Ten Years with Kazakhstan Koreans 　Aeliah Lee 　　It was September 1993 when I first visited Kazakhstan. I arrived at the airport in Almaty, then Capital after a 23 hour flight from Japan. I still recall the huge red sun I saw while waiting for my baggage from the airplane. The two week stay in Kazakhstan, during which I participated in workshops concerning research on the Korean people, turned me into a scholar on Central Asia. 　　 Since then, I have actively engaged in research through meeting a number of Kazakhstan Koreans, conducting hearings and surveys, and collecting several sources for the last ten years. I could not have completed my work alone. Some people were kind enough to show me documents which had been hidden for more than 60 years. Others, from a farmer who filled up the trunk of my car with water melons, to an old woman who gave me miso and peppers in my bag and an old man who passed away while repeatedly saying "It is too bad Aeliah could not come back again" since I was not able to visit as promised due to my sickness...all were an integral part of this project. This book is a joint work with these Kazakhstan Koreans who have given me a lot of love. I am extremely glad to have received this year's Ohira Masayoshi Memorial Prize on their behalf. It is a great honor for me to be chosen for such a prestigious prize for my first book; I will make the utmost effort to become a scholar deserving of it. 　　 Some Koreans in Central Asia have recently moved to the Littoral Province. Various Koreans with different nationalities and cultural backgrounds have come together there including people from the Soviet era, immigrants from Central Asia, Korean migrant workers from China, businessmen from South Korean companies and North Korean defectors. In the future, I plan to publish a book which drives us to consider the question, "What is nation?" both in Japan and South Korea through conducting research on the five Korean societies there. 　　 Finally, I would like to express my deepest appreciation to the Ohira Foundation, the professors in the screening committee, and others who have been so helpful to me. Thank you very much.