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21 The Beginning of the Cambodian Civil War The Cambodian coup d’etat occurred in March 1970, while the head of state His Royal Highness Prince Sihanouk, happened to be traveling abroad. The pro-American Marshal Lon Nol organized a coup d’etat and seized control. In response to this, His Highness Prince Sihanouk went into exile in Beijing, and created the United Front of the Cambodian People. He joined hands with left-wing forces in the country and established the Royal Government of the National Union, and it was from here that the Civil War of 24 years commenced. All researchers of the EFEO also left the country in 1971. Since I had to abandon the idea of entering Cambodia, from 1971 I accepted a job at St. Marianna University School of Medicine, located in Kawasaki city in the prefecture of Kanagawa. Here while teaching French I also obtained a doctorate in literature for my work on the Angkor dynasty, and this persuaded Professor Ogiwara Hiroaki of Kagoshima University to invite me over as a teacher of History. In those days Kagoshima had direct flights to Hong Kong, and it was also a base whereby people could travel to various parts of Southeast Asia by way of Hong Kong. It was for this reason that there were many professors at Kagoshima University having their fields of study in Southeast Asia. In 1977, I too commenced my new job at Kagoshima University, and so while lecturing on Oriental History as an associate professor, I was involved in the research of archaeological sites near Cambodia, namely in Thailand, Burma, Indonesia, and so on. I was also invited by Madeleine Giteau of the EFEO who had once taught in The Tragedy of Cambodia Chapter 2