Charnvit Kasetsiri (Thailand)

I was at the Kyoto Center for Southeast Asian Studies two times. The first one was for a full year in 1977 right after the 6 October 1976 coup. The second was for nine months in 2014-15, right after the 22 May 2014 coup. I was fortunate to have applied to be there well ahead of time and I must say that I did not expect the coups, especially the 2014 one, were coming. I enjoyed living and working in Kyoto, away from troublesome Bangkok and my University Thammasat.

      My impression of CSEAS is that it is a good place for academic work. It has good academic staff and good library. In 1977 senior sensei like Ishii Y., Yano T., Fukui H. were around; the staff was small enough that we got to know one another well. I was amazed to find out that these Japanese scholars had good, or sometimes even better knowledge of Southeast Asia and my country Thailand. The research library was developing in such a way that by 2014, I could find books and materials for my Thai history research. One must remember that in the 1970s Japan did not have good image in Southeast Asia. Anti-Japanese feeling was running high when Premier Tanaka Kakuei visited five Southeast Asian countries in early 1974 (the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, January 7 to 17). Kyoto and CSEAS gave me a different image of Japan. I came to appreciate the Japanese way of life, its culture and fresh raw sashimi. On top of that, biking in Kyoto, back and forth to the Center, is beyond description.

      Being attached to CSEAS I have opportunity to be more involved in cultural and academic bi-lateral exchanges with Japan and its academics, as well as multi-lateral with other Southeast Asian countries. From here I came to be familiar with the Toyota Foundation, Japan. The Foundation and CSEAS helped me cross into neighboring mainland Southeast Asia as well as the island world like Indonesia and the Philippines. Via my CSEAS Japanese friends I got to know those in Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Indonesia, etc. And my Thammasat became the first Thai university, in the year 2000, to establish a B.A. program in Southeast Asian Studies. On top of this a good number of books/translations and manuscripts on Southeast Asia in the Thai language are an outcome of my connection with CSEAS. Much thanks and appreciation. Arigatou and ookini.

Professor Emeritus, Thammasat University Former CSEAS Visiting Research Scholar
Dates 1977
June 2014-February 2015

Resil Mojares (Philippines)

My six-month stint as a visiting fellow at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies in 2000 was a most pleasant, productive, and memorable experience-in part because the city of Kyoto offers the charm and solace perfect for a writing retreat; in part because CSEAS is a quietly supportive, stimulating haven for intellectual work. Such fellowships as I enjoyed address an important need in a region where the conditions of academic work in the scholar’s home environment often constrain the free pursuit of writing and research. By offering a fellowship that is well-endowed, flexible in its priorities, and one that is not over-managed, CSEAS offers a rare and vital service to scholarship in the region. By thus becoming a focal point for Southeast Asian scholars to come together, CSEAS nurtures the spirit of intellectual sharing, collegiality, and community.

      CSEAS has created an environment perfect for this purpose: low-profile and relaxed; excellent physical facilities; a good, working library; a small but top-notch resident faculty; and (not least) an efficient, self-effacing staff. It is also rightly-sized, not too big as to depersonalize the kind of work that takes place at the Center.

People have recognized for a long time now that “Southeast Asia” is a dynamic construct that should be defined and shaped from within, and that studies pertaining to the region must have their base and center of gravity within the region itself. CSEAS is leading the way in turning these aspirations into a reality in the field of scholarship.

I consider CSEAS in Kyoto the best of the centers of its kind, whether located in or outside the region. It is sensitive to the priorities and needs of scholarship in Southeast Asia, yet not agenda-driven; collaborative and region-based not only in its aims but its practices; and respectful and supportive of what, at the heart of it all, is the individual exercise of dedicated and responsible scholarship.

Professor Resil Mojares
Emeritus, University of San Carlos, Cebu City, Philippines
Former CSEAS Visiting Research Scholar
June-December 2000

Hsin-Huang Michael Hsiao (Taiwan)

My three-month tenure as a foreign visiting scholar at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies in Kyoto University was between October 2015 to Jan 2016 and offered a very intellectually productive and culturally rich experience. I successfully completed my tasks to complete a research project proposal on the comparative study of the tripartite links between the middle class, civil society and democratization in Taiwan, South Korea, the Philippines, and Thailand. From this, at a later date, I was able to invite scholars from CSEAS and GRIPS in Japan, along with experts from Taiwan, to join two international workshops to present papers on the topic at my Institute of Sociology, Academia Sinica (Taipei, Taiwan) and at GRIPS
(Tokyo, Japan) in September and December, 2016.

      At present (2018) I am excited to report that all the revised workshop papers will be complied in an edited volume titled, Middle Class, Civil Society, and Democracy in Asia to be published shortly (2018 Routledge).

In retrospect, I am grateful to the CSEAS fellowship in that it offered me a calm and pleasantly intellectual environment to pursue my proposal writing and develop necessary scholarly networks to build up my research team.

Furthermore, during my stay there, I even facilitated the institutional collaboration between CSEAS-Kyoto and CSEAS-NCCU to sign a MOU to co-sponsor academic programs in the following years. I also had plenty of opportunities to attend lectures and seminars organized by CSEAS and many informal, yet stimulating discussions, with resident scholars and fellows. It was indeed a luxury to indulge myself in such a free spirit exchange with first rate academics in CSEAS.

       My wife also greatly benefited by accompanying me to visit CSEAS. She was graciously invited to hold an art exhibition to celebrate CSEAS’s 50th Anniversary. We of course would not miss this rare occasion to explore the culture and beauty of this ancient Japanese cultural capital. This enriched and deepened our understanding of Japanese culture, nature, and the city landscape.

       I would like to join many other international scholars who have been greatly benefitted from CSEAS fellowships and assert with great confidence that CSEAS is a leading research institution in Southeast Asian Studies. The fellowship has definitely nurtured and fostered the precious intellectual spirit of freedom and sharing. Thank you, CSEAS.

Professor Hsin-Huang Michael Hsiao
Distinguished Research Fellow of Institute of Sociology, Academia Sinica
Professor of Sociology, National Taiwan University and National Sun Yat-sen University
Chair Professor, National Central University
Former CSEAS Foreign Visiting Research Scholar
October 2015 – January 2016

Chris Baker （United Kingdom）
Pasuk Phongpaichit (Thailand)

We visited the Center in 1998 when Pasuk was invited to Japan by the Japan Foundation and have been fortunate to have two 6-month fellowships- from September 2004 to March 2005 when Pasuk was hosted by Professor Shiraishi Takashi, and from November 2011 to April 2012, when both Chris and Pasuk (for part of the time) were hosted by Professor Sugihara Kaoru.

      Pasuk has also made several shorter visits to the Center under the JSPS-NRCT Core University Program headed by Professor Shiraishi and later by Professor Mizuno Kosuke. From this latter program emerged The Rise of Middle Classes in Southeast Asia edited by Shiraishi Takashi and Pasuk Phongpaichit (Kyoto University Press and Trans Pacific Press, 2008) and Populism in Asia edited by Mizuno Kosuke and Pasuk Phongpaichit (Kyoto University Press and NUS Press, 2009).
For visiting scholars such as us, the Center offers a unique experience. First, it is an opportunity to devote oneself full-time to a major project. Over our 2004-05 stay, we completed our A History of Thailand, which is now in its third edition, and also began translating the folk epic, A Tale of Khun Chang Khun Phaen, completed and published seven years later. Over 2011-12, we worked mainly on a project about inequality, since published as Unequal Thailand: Aspects of Income, Wealth and Power (Singapore: NUS Press, 2016).

      Equally important is the chance to interact with the staff and projects of the Center, and to learn from the Center’s special culture of interdisciplinary work. We were privileged to attend one of the launching events for the “Sustainable Humanosphere” project, and several years later to attend its final conference. Both the process and the end-product of this pioneering project are very inspiring.
A special feature of the Center is the opportunity to meet and discuss with other visiting scholars who come from all over Asia and beyond and who study different parts and different aspects of Asia within many disciplines. These encounters offer unplanned and unexpected learning experiences. We have attended several seminars and short conferences on topics which would not normally have drawn our attention but which provided opportunities to learn “outside the box” of our usual concerns.

       Finally, the sheer elegance of Kyoto as a city can sometimes be a distraction from academic work but on balance serves as a source of inspiration. Cycling along the Kamo River between the Center and the Shugakuin Hostel through the changing seasons is therapy for the mind.

CSEAS has built a pre-eminent position in the world of interdisciplinary scholarship on the Asian region.

       Its contribution is found in its journals, publications, library resources, databases, conferences, seminars, and projects, but also in its efforts to foster the human contacts and personal academic exchanges which are the traffic of intellectual life.

Pasuk Phongpaichit Professor, Chulalongkorn University

CSEAS Visiting Research Scholar
Dates September 2004-March 2005
November 2011-April 2012

Chris Baker Writer and Scholar
CSEAS Visiting Research Scholar
Dates November 2011-April 2012

Janet Hoskins （United States）

I was at CSEAS from December 2010 to May 2011, which was a year with a harsh winter, a huge earthquake and tsunami, and a beautiful spring. For Japan, it was perhaps “the best of times and the worst of times.” I saw the incredible devastation caused by the Tohuku earthquake, but also the outpouring of support for the victims. I saw the government fail to address radiation dangers adequately, but also the heroism of particular workers who tried to repair the leaks at the nuclear power plant in Fukushima. It was a time when the people of Japan were tested by horrific events and showed an admirable fortitude and solidarity.

      CSEAS was known to me as a regional studies center which had a distinguished history and was linked to a number of important publications. I had not been aware of many of CSEAS’s other activities in sponsoring conferences on current events and bringing together scholars who work on environmental issues. I was familiar with the work of anthropologists and historians who had been affiliated with CSEAS, but had not realized the links that the Center has to activism and the political transformation of the region. Since my own work is on transnational religion, I had been especially interested in the linkages between the new Vietnamese religion of Caodaism and some of the “Oomoto lineage” new religions in Japan.

      My main goal during the time that I spent at the Center was to finish a book manuscript and to learn more about Japanese religion. Kyoto proved to be a wonderful place to do both of these things. I was very happy to meet a range of scholars from different countries who study Southeast Asia. I attended a wide range of seminars and workshops, and also went on field trips to monasteries, temples and mountain retreats in the area. There was a wonderfully congenial atmosphere at the Center which was combined with a serious devotion to scholarship and research productivity.
When I had a serious bicycle accident just a few weeks before the end of my stay, I got incredible assistance from CSEAS staff and especially my sponsor Yoko Hayami. I will always be grateful for her help at that time of pain.

CSEAS has helped to foster and continue dialogues across the Pacific about Southeast Asian cultures and how they are changing in today’s globalized world.

       Regional studies have been challenged in recent years by the new ways in which we are all increasingly connected, so I see an emerging model of “Transpacific Studies,” in which people from both sides of the Pacific are part of an interactive, mutually constitutive dynamic process. I am hoping build new “Transpacific bridges” (which will, of course, be conceptual “bridges,” not real ones!) through increased contact between Asia and North America.

       Japan is well situated to contribute to our knowledge of Southeast Asia because of its long history of involvement in the region, its educated citizens, and its commitment to scholarship. Globally, there are still language issues in communicating with many Japanese scholars, but publications like the journal of Southeast Asian Studies have made this less of a barrier. Collaborations with institutions like the Asia Research Institute at the National University of Singapore have also created a context for more inter-Asian dialogue and research collaboration.

Professor Janet Hoskins
Former CSEAS Visiting Research Scholar
Dates Dec 2010 – May 2011

OOI Keat Gin (Malaysia)

Twin Interludes

Twice, not once, I was a visiting research fellow of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS), Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan. My initial residence was a three-month stay from mid-July to mind-Oct 2015. On the second occasion, it was a similar duration in 2016. Kudos to CSEAS for its flexibility in arranging the allotted six-month sojourn into two phases owing to other commitments that were less than accommodating. Seizing this present opportunity, my gratitude to those managing CSEAS then in demonstrating less than dogmatic observance of rules and regulations.

      Intellectually, the twin interludes during the Kyoto summer were indeed beneficial. Seclusion afforded deep contemplation, thoughtful reflection. All the thinking, deep or otherwise, were effectively and readily transformed into words on the notebook screen. In penning a book, solitude was an asset, an ambience of indulgence for the writing craft, thoughts flow into words, words dressed a page, and several pages thereafter, a manuscript (for submission). Whether in my assigned office in CSEAS or in my apartment in Shugakuin, the environment nurtured creativity that transferred into completed papers, chapters, volumes in clockwork fashion. Over the space of two sojourns, the final accomplishment, writing-wise, was laudable, if not, impressive, viz. two working papers, two edited volumes, and a single-authored monograph. Admittedly the last mentioned had commenced much earlier in various other venues but was completed at CSEAS. Prolific penmanship and editing work owed much to the minimum of interferences. Encountered distractions faced by most serving academics commonly included a series of fruitless meetings, nuisance of unfinished administrative paperwork, and various other time-sapping bureaucratic demands, were all pleasantly ‘missing’ during my residences.

      Again intellectually, I partook and enriched my knowledge and appetite, thoughts and insights in Japanese sociocultural practices, history, and heritage whilst sojourning in the ancient city of Kyoto. Weekends were spent cycling (one of life’s joys) around the historic city and outskirts, savoring the natural beauty as well as admiring the man-made edifices, the bustle of the city-center thronged with tourists and locals that were all profitable indulgences. Then there were the UNESCO-acknowledged world heritage sites (17 altogether then, if I recalled) were not only, mind the cliché, awe-inspiring, but also, fruitfully informative, a glimpse and a window into past achievements in both form and substance. Either enjoying the culinary delights of kaiseki, the traditional multi-course Japanese meal in an old-style restaurant, or simply standing and slurping (embarrassingly loudly) a bowl of soba (buckwheat noodle) at a roadside stall manned by an elderly couple, both were deep experiences of the senses.

      Facilities at CSEAS itself and Kyoto University were commendable and supportive. Whether one was seeking assistance in the library or in one of the administration offices, staff were attentive, knowledgeable and helpful. Despite language and/or cultural barriers, smiles from all quarters overcame any obstacles. Daily living in Kyoto, the cuisine, the shopping, the parks, the cycling lanes, ‘polite’ traffic, the Kano river, the outskirts, and the salubrious weather (despite summer heat, typhoon warnings), all added to the rich, profitable, and unforgettable stay. My spouse, who spent shorter sojourns with me, was equally impressed, amused, delighted.

Professor OOI Keat Gin
Coordinator Asia Pacific Research Unit (APRU-USM)
School of Humanities
Universiti Sains Malaysia

Filomeno V. Aguilar Jr. （Philippines）

To have been affiliated with the CSEAS on a Visiting Research Fellowship was my distinct privilege and honor, first during the second half of 2001 and then from August 2010 to January 2011. During the first fellowship I completed an anthology on overseas migration, which was published in 2002 as Filipinos in Global Migrations: At Home in the World? The second fellowship enabled me to work on my book manuscript that saw publication in 2014, Migration Revolution: Philippine Nationhood and Class Relations in A Globalized Age (published in 2014 under the Kyoto CSEAS Series on Asian Studies). The research fellowships also gave me the opportunity to work on journal articles that were subsequently published in Southeast Asian Studies (vol. 41, no. 2, 2003) and the Journal of Global History (vol. 7, no. 3, 2012).

The research fellowships offered by the Center are truly valuable in providing the dedicated time and congenial environment to pursue scholarly work.

       Stimulating conversations with the Center’s resident and visiting scholars enhanced my research, providing me leads to pursue as well as friendly encouragement in my work. As an academic based in the Philippines since 2003, I truly appreciate that the Center provides research opportunities free from the complexities of my home institution. Surely scholars from other countries in Southeast Asia would have a similar appreciation of the CSEAS.

      By making the visiting research fellowships more competitive, the Center has also enhanced their prestige. These fellowships, I believe, are at the core of a flourishing network of scholars of Southeast Asia-which the Center has formalized into the Consortium for Southeast Asian Studies in Asia (SEASIA).

       Beyond the fellowships for visiting scholars, the Center undertakes numerous activities, such as its program on young researchers and the various intersections with graduate degree programs in Kyoto University, which have contributed immensely to the training of a future generation of scholars and to knowledge production in and of Southeast Asia.

      The Center’s decision to launch the English language journal, Southeast Asian Studies, in April 2012, while keeping Tonan Ajia Kenkyu as a Japanese language journal, has expanded the journal’s readership and positioned the Center as probably the only one in the world devoted to Southeast Asia that publishes its own high-caliber journal on the region. I am honored to be on its International Advisory Board.

      In 2012 an important milestone was achieved when the Ateneo de Manila University’s Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints and Southeast Asian Studies entered into a formal partnership. As a result, the two journals have cosponsored so far two international conferences, both of which were held at the Ateneo de Manila. “Historiography and Nation since Pasyon and Revolution: Conference in Honor of Professor Reynaldo C Ileto” was held on 8-9 February 2013. “Disasters in History: The Philippines in Comparative Perspective” was held on 24-25 October 2014. A third one will be held on 30-31 July 2018, “Bridging Worlds, Illumining the Archive: An International Conference in Honor of Professor Resil B. Mojares.”

      All these innovative activities may seem like ordinary pursuits that the Center is expected to conduct anyway. However, given the travails of area studies in the United States, the Center’s activities gain tremendous significance. The expansion and growth of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at Kyoto University signal in no uncertain terms the continuing relevance of Southeast Asian studies amid changing conditions in both Southeast Asia and the world. The CSEAS has engaged scholars of the region as equal partners and colleagues, unhampered by the ambitions of states and rulers.

Filomeno V. Aguilar Jr.
Former CSEAS Fellow

Dates 10 July 2001 to 9 January 2002
1 August 2010 to 31 January 2011

Latsamay Sylavong (Laos)

In 2013, CSEAS provided me with a six-month fellowship to stay at the Center. This was a very productive and memorable experience allowing me to participate in various seminars, conferences, colloquia, and brown bag lectures, as well as the nice attractions of Kyoto city. The fellowship provided me a great opportunity to prepare a working paper to share and discuss my work with professors and colleagues within CSEAS. I was impressed with the professionalism of CSEAS, and benefited from the facilities that supported my stay. The Center provided space for flexible academic thinking. The pleasant and quiet surroundings were an excellent setting for the Center’s academic culture of exchange of ideas. This included the permanent staff of the Center, affiliated institutions within the University and students. The relationships I formed with other fellows from various fields of research and countries helped me to broaden my thinking, as well as making me think about ways to collaborate across the region. CSEAS offers a vital environment for scholarship in the region. Working in the field of environment and natural resources, I particularly enjoyed the Center’s approach to integrating social, environmental and ecological issues into their area studies.

      I found CSEAS to be perfect for my fellowship, providing an excellent environment in a traditional city. My daily routine of cycling to the Center, focusing on my writing, accessing the many libraries in the University system and joining stimulating seminars was a unique experience.
Although we are all studying Southeast Asian studies, being in Kyoto opened up many opportunities to learn from what is going on in Japan. For me, learning about Satoyama initiatives provided a new perspective on local resource governance. There were many useful comparisons and insights, which I shared with colleagues after I returned to Laos. From my own experience, strong environmental leadership in academia will help influence decision-making processes in various areas.

I really feel CSEAS in Kyoto is one of the leading centers suited to the academic priorities and needs of scholarship for experienced professionals to achieve their expectations/ goals in their respective fields of scholarship.

      The Center provides many different types of support to make sure that scholars make connections, share ideas and have the right environment for fellows to be productive.

Latsamay Sylavong
Former Country Director of International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
Former CSEAS Visiting Research Scholar
Dates June – December 2013

Virginia Shih (United States)

It was indeed an honor and privilege for being invited as a visiting research scholar at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS) of Kyoto University from September 1, 2012 through February 28, 2013. Attending the Center’s events, workshops, seminars and staff meetings during my 6-month research residency was truly an eye opener to understand why and how things were conducted and learn about the quality of scholarship among presenters and the leadership of event organizers. I fulfilled my research objective in exploring the priorities, challenges, and prospects of Southeast Asian studies at CSEAS as a “Center of Excellence” for my overall understanding of Japanese contributions to Southeast Asia scholarship and librarianship. At the end of my research residency, I submitted an essay on “Exploring Southeast Asian Studies Programs and Scholarly Treasures in Japanese Institutions: A Preliminary Fieldwork Survey” which was published in CSEAS Newsletter No. 67, Spring 2013.

CSEAS has been, is, and will remain as one of most dynamic, innovative leading research centers in global Southeast Asian studies.

Given its geographic convenience in Asia, CSEAS has its advantage to establish and sustain a global network with various prestigious institutions interested in Asian/Southeast Asian studies through bilateral or multilateral memoranda of understanding, academic exchange agreements, collaborative research programs, field stations and overseas liaison offices. CSEAS has been successful in inviting local, regional, national and international academic communities to lead, contribute or participate in various public lectures, seminars, conferences, colloquia, workshops, and social events that provide an ongoing international momentum and forum for the research and teaching community to foster global area studies discussions in interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary, and cross-disciplinary areas within and beyond Asia. Among numerous academic achievements that CSEAS has accomplished regionally and globally in almost half a century, it is gratifying to see the open access of Southeast Asian Studies journal to promote Southeast Asia scholarship to a worldwide English-speaking audience as well as the inauguration of the Consortium for Southeast Asian Studies in Asia (SEASIA) in 2013 and its first biennial conference of SEASIA in December 2015 in conjunction with celebrating the 50th anniversary of CSEAS. I sincerely extend my heartfelt congratulations and blessings that CSEAS will continue to flourish as the worldclass research institute in Southeast Asian studies with distinguished faculty, researchers and graduate students as well as extraordinary resources to sustain global academic community building and networking to serve the local and global community of Southeast Asian studies in the next few decades to come.

Virgina Shih
Librarian, South/Southeast Asia Library,
University of California, Berkeley
Former CSEAS Visiting Research Scholar,
September 2012-February 2013

Nipaporn Ratchatapattanakul (Thailand)

I was a three-month visiting fellow at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies in 2015. As an alumna of the Graduate School of Asian and African Area Studies (ASAFAS), Kyoto University, I felt as if I had returned to my academic homeland. Although I was familiar with the staff and academic facilities of CSEAS, I found discovered new experiences toward academic work as a visiting fellow. CSEAS has created a perfect environment for research and I was write an article throughout the day at my personal research office. Besides this, my stress was relieved by listening to my favorite relaxing music and watching lovely autumn view from my office’s window. I had lunch with neighbouring scholars and we shared not only academic matters, but also our experiences from our personal life. During some weekends, we participated in a one-day trip organized by CSEAS and, for instance, went hiking up Arashiyama. What impressed me most is the warm welcome to join a trip even if we had not known each other previously. Until now, the relaxing music and memories remind me of my pleasant academic time at CSEAS. I was able to finish writing and at the same time prepare for a new research proposal during the three-month visiting. This was truly a productive time in my life.

      Apart from the peaceful environment, CSEAS has significantly created an environment for forming academic connections. The special talks and seminars of well-known scholars and newcomers were held at Tonan-tei around twice a month. As CSEAS’s academic staff possess diverse experiences, I enjoyed the variety of topics and could connect with the participants who attended these events. Indeed, CSEAS’s academic staff are a key element to the friendly atmosphere that exists. They treated all of the presenters and participants very well. I believe that CSEAS’s academic and administrative staffs have rich experiences and an especially good outlook toward international academic affairs.

       As such, I trust that CSEAS can continue to be another principal academic homeland for everyone and not just restricted to former Kyoto University alumni such as myself.

Nipaporn Ratchatapattanakul
Lecturer, Department of History, Thammasat University, Bangkok, Thailand
Former CSEAS Visiting Research Scholar
October-December 2015