I first visited Thailand in 1965 when I traveled by ship from Kobe to Bangkok,
and stayed in the newly established Bangkok office. At that time, the office
hosted many researchers due to the lack of accommodation in the city. Then,
there were no high buildings.
But now our office is located on the 8th floor of a high condominium and
the surroundings are mixture of higher hotels and apartments, individual
houses and old buildings. The landscape in Bangkok has changed a lot. So
too in the countryside: in Doi Suthep temple in Changmai, for example,
the jack fruit tree has become very big after 40 years.
The new Naresuan University was established 7years ago in Phitsanulok and
it is exemplary for having a good number of hard-working young staff. Kasetsart
University, on the other hand, has become one of the biggest universities
in Thailand in terms of number of student.
On the occasion of the visit of our Kyoto university auditor Professor
K. Hara, we met with some of the faculty and staff of Kasetsart and Chulalongkorn
Universities. In that meeting, a fairly good number of new ideas were discussed
to strengthen future cooperation between these universities and CSAES.
I have a strong impression that in the area of international cooperation,
universities in Thailand are much advanced than Kyoto University. It is
important for us to pursue international cooperation more deeply and vigorously
with the universities abroad to promote area studies.
