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31 conduct research on the cultures and societies of the Asian regions, a fact that is scheduled to be an enduring feature of our university in the future, and to conduct in particular specialized research on the traditional cultures and lifestyles of those regions, and based on that perception, to establish a research institute that aims at grasping the present-day social and cultural phenomena of Asia, is required. By launching such a research institute, we shall seek to establish cultural and academic exchanges with numerous Asian regions. Also, by soliciting from the world the products of research and exchange, we wish to establish this institute with the hope that it contributes to development and peace, not just in Asia but in the world as well.” Thus in 1982, on the occasion when the Institute of Asian Cultures was set up at Sophia University, I transferred from Kagoshima University to Sophia University. Professor Murai Yoshinori (Professor Emeritus of Sophia University, who passed away in 2013), and who is known for books such as “Shrimps and the Japanese,” transferred from within the campus at the same time as myself, and the two of us set about preparing the team for the new Institute of Asian Cultures. The institute was established as a ‘minor,’ with no students of its own. Lectures dealing with Asia were conducted for all our university students, and courses were opened to enable students to acquire an interest in Asian society and culture. In 1984, I initiated a project entitled “Study Group for the Rediscovery of Asian Cultural Heritage (supported by the 21st Century Cultural Foundation).” In order to acquire the know-how related to conservation and restoration from the stone archaeological sites of Southeast Asia, I went to Sukhothai (Thailand), Borobudur (Indonesia), Bagan (Myanmar), and northeast Thailand. I conducted symposiums with those involved in those matters locally, and brought out a collection of seven publications in English, on the problems of conservation and restoration.