Welcome to the MASAYOSHI OHIRA Memorial Foundation

［The Masayoshi Ohira Memorial Prize］

The main prize consists of a commemorative shield and an award of \1,000,000.
The special prize consists of a commemorative shield and an award of \500,000.

Criteria

(１)The award is targeted to works by individual authors, collaborations or compilations, which contribute to the development of “the Pacific Basin Community Concept” and also regional studies of the Pacific Basin region.
(２) In selecting the awarded works, priority will be given in the following order: first the books by individual authors; second collaborative books; and the third compilations.
(３) The publication date of the awarded book, as a rule, must be within two years preceding the award date.
(４) Works which have already received another award will not, as a rule, be eligible for the prize.
(５) The Special Prize will be awarded to works that contribute to broadening the public knowledge on the Pacific Basin Community Concept, such as bibliographic or encyclopedic books, enlightening books etc..
(６) Up to five or six works will be selected, two or three preferably by non-Japanese authors.
(７) Authors must, as a rule, be under the age of fifty.

Recommendation and Application for the prize

Recommendation for the prize is restricted, in principle, to those organizations or individuals that the foundation asks of, but recommendation by other parties is possible. Free application by an author or publisher is also possible, in which case a copy of the book must be sent to the foundation. The term for collecting recommendation is from the beginning of September to the end of November. The Selection Committee decide on the awarded works around March and inform the recipients of the news. Those who fail shall not be informed of the results nor shall their application documents be returned.

[The Pacific Basin Academic Grant]

A Grant for group research is within \5,000,000.
A Grant for individual research is within \ 2,000,000.

Criteria

(１) The grant will be awarded to group and individual researches on politics, economics, culture, science or technology, which serve to further the Pacific Basin Community concept; researches on the Pacific Regions are also eligible.
(２) Researches must be completed within two years at longest and when completed, their outcome must be reported to the foundation in some way.
(３) The number of researches to be awarded the grant is preferably one or two for group researches and three or four for individual researches, half of which are by foreign researchers.
(４) Researchers must, as a rule, be under the age of fifty.

Application

In applying for the grant, recommendation by someone concerning the foundation is necessary in principle, but application without it is also possible. The term for application is from the beginning of September to the end of November. The Selection Committee decide on the awarded works around March and inform the recipients of the news. Those who fail shall not be informed of the results nor shall their application documents be returned. Those wishing to apply for the grant may inquire of the foundation. The application form for the academic grant will be sent in reply.

"Evolution of Labor Management in Asian Manufacturing Industry
(Asia ni okeru koujou-roudouryoku no keisei"
Akihiko Ohno (Professor of School of International Politics, Economic and Communication, Aoyama Gakuin University)

Profile
Born in 1953 in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Akihiko Ohno holds a B.A. in 1977 from Yamaguchi University and M.A. (1979) and Ph.D. (2008) of Economics from Hitotsubashi University. He studied at Delhi School of Economics in 1980-81. After serving as Assistant Professor at Seikei University and Osaka City University, he has been Professor at Aoyama Gakuin University since 1999. He also served as a consultant at World Bank’s Economic Development Institute from 1993-1995 and 1997-78. His research interests include labor management, rural micro-finance and rural industry. His recent papers are ‘Rural Clustering at Incipient Stages of Economic Development: Hand-weaving Clusters in Laos’ forthcoming.

"Japan's Dual Civil Society- Members Without Advocates"
Robert Pekkanen (Chair of the Japan Studies Program and Associate Professor at the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington)

Profile
Robert Pekkanen is Chair of the Japan Studies Program and Associate Professor at the University of Washington. He was previously a visiting researcher at the University of Tokyo and at Keio University and a visiting professor at the University of Tsukuba. Harvard University awarded him a Ph.D. in political science in 2002. He has published articles in such journals as The American Political Science Review, The British Journal of Political Science, and The Journal of Japanese Studies, among others. His Japan's Dual Civil Society: Members without Advocates, which was honored with the 24th Masayoshi Ohira Foundation Memorial Prize, was also awarded a prize by the Japanese Nonprofit Research Association (JANPORA) and The Japan Times featured it as one of the "Best Asia Books" of 2006. A Japanese translation by Hironori Sasada appeared in 2008 as Nihon ni okeru shimin shakai no nijyuu kouzou from Bokutakusha Publishing.

"The American Empire as Lived Experience: Scenes from the History of Philippine-U.S. Relations
(Rekishi-keiken to shiteno Amerika Teikoku)"

Satoshi Nakano (Professor, Hitotsubashi University Graduate School of Social Sciences)

Profile
Born in Tokyo, Satoshi Nakano graduated from Hitotsubashi University Faculty of Law in 1983; he received M.A. (sociology) in 1985 and Ph.D. (sociology) in 1995 from Hitotsubashi University. From 1990, he served as Assistant Professor and Associate Professor at Kobe University; from 1999 he served as Associate Professor at Hitotsubashi University Graduate School of Social Sciences, where he currently serves as Professor since 2003. He was a visiting researcher at the University of the Philippines (1994-1995) and a visiting researcher and an Abe Fellow at Columbia University (2005-2006). His publication includes Firipin Dokuritsu Mondaishi (A History of the Philippine Independence Problem), Tokyo: Ryukei Shosha, 1997, which won the Japanese Association of American Studies Shimizu Hiroshi Prize.

"Contemporary China’s Foreign Policy
(Gendai chuugoku no gaikou)"
Rumi Aoyama (Professor, Faculty of Education, Waseda University)

Profile
Professor, The Research Institute of Current Chinese Affairs, School of Education, Waseda University.
She earned a Ph. D. in Law from Graduate School of Law, Keio University. Her specialty is Contemporary Chinese Diplomacy. Her most recent publications include “Chinese Diplomacy in the Multimedia Age,” in Kazuko Mori & Kenichiro Hirano eds., A New East Asia: Toward a Regional Community (Singapore: National University of Singapore, 2007); “China’s Public Diplomacy, ” in Shin Kawashima eds., China’s Foreign Policy (Tokyo: Yamakawa Press, 2007), and others.

"The Politics of Citizenship in Multicultural Australia
(Citizenship to tabunka-kokka)"
Iizasa Sayoko (Research Fellow, National Institute for Research Advancement <NIRA>)

Profile
Born in Fukuoka. After graduated from Tsuda University, Iizasa obtained MA (Hon) in Political Science from the University of New South Wales (Australia) and Doctor of Social Sciences from Hitotsubashi University.
After entering in NIRA, she served as a visiting fellow at The Asia Australia Institute of The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Conseil des relations interculturelles du Gouvernement du Quebec, Montreal, etc. Since 2007, She has been a Research Fellow at NIRA.
Her research interests include citizenship, multicultural policy and cultural urban policy.
Her books include Towards the Value Creating City (co-authored, NTT Publishing Co., Ltd., 2008) and Citizenship in Multicultural Societies (co-authored, Nihon Keizai Hyoronsha, 2001).

"Ethnography of Maritime Southeast Asia: Livelihood, Migration, and Identity in the Philippine Islands(kaiiki-sekai no minzokushi)"
Koki Seki　(Assistant Professor, Graduate School of International Cooperation and Development (IDEC), Hiroshima University)

Profile
Born in 1968 in Tokyo, Koki Seki received a Bachelor’s Degree in Literature from Rikkyo University in Tokyo in 1991; followed by a Master’s Degree in Philippine Studies from the University of the Philippines in 1996; and finally a Ph.D. in Literature from Rikkyo University in 2004. He was a Special Research Fellow of the Japan Society for Promotion of Science (JSPS) in 2002 – 2003, and was also a Visiting Research Associate in the Institute of Philippine Culture, Ateneo de Manila University (Quezon City, Philippines).
He joined the faculty of the Graduate School of International Cooperation and Development (IDEC) of the Hiroshima University as a Research Associate from 2002 to 2006; and currently remains a member of the faculty of IDEC as an Assistant Professor. He specializes in Cultural Anthropology and Area Study of Southeast Asia.