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On 5 February, a day of events was held that included the JSPS-NRCT RONPAKU Medal Award Ceremony, a General Assembly to inaugurate the establishment of the JSPS Alumni Forum of Thailand (JAFT), a commemorative lecture, and a reception to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the JSPS Bangkok Office. Before the ceremony, a planning luncheon was held between the JAFT preparatory committee and the staff of the National Research Council of Thailand (NRCT).
Convened in the early afternoon at the Dusit Thani Bangkok Hotel, the JSPS-NRCT RONPAKU Medal Award Ceremony opened with remarks by NRCT acting secretary-general Mrs. Kanchana Pankhoyngam and JSPS president Prof. Motoyuki Ono. He, then, presented the RONPAKU Medal to four Thai researchers who had successfully earned their PhDs from Japanese universities under the program. They, in turn, introduced themselves and described their research to everybody in attendance. Held later in the afternoon, the first JAFT General Assembly opened with remarks from JSPS Bangkok Office director Dr. Kou Ikejima, after which JAFT members officiated the meeting. Prof. Busaba Yongsmith, who chaired both the JAFT preparatory committee and ARAT (Association of RONPAKU Alumni of Thailand), told about what had transpired in the three preparatory meetings and described the association’s charter that was drafted and sent out to Thai researchers who had participated in JSPS’s programs. An animated discussion of the charter’s details was held among the alumni members, who approved the charter and elected Prof. Yongsmith as the association’s chair along with the executive committee members for the first fiscal year. In the early evening, a lecture meeting was held as the first event to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the JSPS Bangkok Office. Prof. Yoneo Ishii, JSPS academic advisor and director general, Japan Center for Asian Historical Records, had been scheduled to deliver the lecture; regretfully, however, he fell suddenly ill, so Prof. Ono read the manuscript on his behalf. He also gave his own presentation on “University Internationalization—Japan’s Higher Education Policy Challenges.”
In the evening, the reception was held in the hotel’s Dusit Thani Hall to celebrate the Bangkok Office’s 20th anniversary and the alumni association’s establishment. Dr. Ikejima and Prof. Ono offered welcoming remarks, followed by congratulatory messages from Mrs. Pankhoyngam and Mr. Yuji Kumamaru, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Embassy of Japan in Thailand. Then, Prof. Yongsmith, who had just been elected JAFT chair at the preceding General Assembly, offered remarks in prelude to proposing a toast. After that, Prof. Ono gave commemorative mementos and JSPS alumni badges to Prof. Yongsmith to pass out to the members of the new Thai alumni association. Dr. Ikejima gave a presentation on the history of the Bangkok Office’s activities over the past two decades. Intermingled within his presentation were congratulatory messages by the third center director Prof. Osamu Akagi and the twelfth director Prof. Toshiomi Yoshida.
The commemorative lecture and reception were attended by altogether over 120 people, including former JSPS fellows and program participants, JSPS program operators at Thai universities, and Japanese embassy officials, among others. Both the JAFT inaugural General Assembly and the celebratory reception marked a forward-looking program milestone at the Bangkok Office’s 20th year juncture. While also celebrating the start of the JSPS Alumni Forum of Thailand, the day’s events afforded the Bangkok Office staff an ideal opportunity to ask for the sustained support of all involved with JSPS programs in Thailand. Prof. Yoneo Ishii passed away on 12 February. His great efforts had been instrumental in developing academic exchange between Japan and Thailand and in promoting the activities of the JSPS Bangkok Office. We offer our deepest condolences to his family and colleagues and to his many friends and associates in Thailand. - JSPS Bangkok Office  |
