Annual Newsletter of the Slavic Research Center, Hokkaido University

S LAVICR ESEARCHC ENTER NEWSNo. 19February 2012

The Fifth International Symposium of Comparative
Research on Major Regional Powers in Eurasia“Alliances and Borders in the Making andUnmaking of Regional Powers”
On July 7–8, 2011, the Slavic
Research Center hosted a Summer
Symposium on “Alliances and Borders in the Making and Unmakingof Regional Powers.” With support
from the New Academic Knowledge
Project on “Comparative Research on
Major Regional Powers in Eurasia”(Tabata Shinichiro, Head), the Global
Center of Excellence on “Reshaping
Japan’s Border Studies” (I washita
Akihiro, Head) and A-level JSPS
Research Project on “The Cold War in
Northeast Asia” (David Wolff, Head),the Symposium brought together aninternational group of experts to commemorate both the 60th anniversary of
the US-Japan Treaty and Alliance andthe 20th anniversary of the end of theSoviet Union. One event was the mostsignificant step in defining Cold War
alliances and borders in Asia. The otherwas the defining event in reshaping
contemporary Europe.
The vision of two empires battling over Europe and Asia has beenenshrined in the canon of the Cold War,but reality was often more complex than Lively discussions among the participants
this simple geometry. The very process

No.19 February 2012of concluding an agreement could contain within it the seeds of future disagreements. The
secret clauses of the Sino-Soviet agreement of 1950 made Mao bitter forever against Stalin
and other “new Tsars.” The US-Japan alliance bargain of the following year with its implicit
trade of bases for security umbrella, together with the relevant clauses of the “MacArthur
Constitution,” made it possible for the Japanese to avoid the costs of rearmament, although
the US later complained. In the Sino-Soviet and US-Japan cases, the economic promises that
accompanied security treaties also led to long-term recriminations. In hindsight, it seems
apparent that intended asymmetries, the heart of the deal, could over time lead to perceived
inequalities and alliance demise.
Just as important, alliances were almost always against an enemy, creating a hidden
triangle, also at the heart of the deal. Thus, any change by either ally, even the most desirable
lessening of tension with the enemy, could lead to fears of betrayal, the risk of a “separate
peace.” It is in these terms that American reaction to Japanese parliamentary visits to China
in the 1950s and the American opening to China in the 1970s must be analyzed.
Borders are often just as baffling. With Cold War putting the brakes on all out war, borderclashes, along with partisan warfare, clandestine operations, “public diplomacy” and various
other forms of “lesser war,” truly politics by other means in Clausewitz’s classic formulation,
took the field. The Sino-Soviet border, the world’s longest, served briefly for friendship, butmore enduringly as a great divide. Border conflicts, relatively minor bloodlettings, often
reveal the hidden triangles underlying fragile alliances. Thus, the 1959 and 1962 Sino-Indian
clashes soon became a factor in the death of the Sino-Soviet alliance and the weakening of
Nehru’s cherished vision of non-alignment, the “anti-alliance” path. The 1969 Sino-Soviet
border clashes along the Ussuri and in Xinjiang were China’s clear signal to the US that one
alliance was over and another could begin.
From Stalin to Deng, from Nixon to Nakasone, the conundrums of border and alliancewere leveraged by the statesmen of our age in attempts to build or thwart regional hegemony.
As often as not, strategies and plans backfired, but the basic configurations still hold, glued
together by communal interests from the past and shared fears of the future. It is the very
stuff of which regional powers are made. All this, and more, was presented and discussed
during two exciting days in Sapporo. A forthcoming issue of the GCOE’s Eurasian Border
Review will feature these papers.
David Wolff

Speakers at the Symposium (July 7–8, 2011)

Inoue Masaya (Kagawa University, Japan) “Japan’s Pursuit of a Modus Vivendi: Normalization of Sino-Japanese
Relations and the Taiwan Issue, 1971–1972”
Yoshida Shingo (JSPS Research Fellow, Japan) “Credibility Imperatives vs. Domestic Antimilitarism: Japan’s
Alliance Policies during the 1970s”
Kusunoki Ayako (Kwansei Gakuin University, Japan) “Evolution of the US-Japan Alliance”
Izumikawa Yasuhiro (Chuo University, Japan) “The Emergence and Evolution of the Hub-and-Spokes Alliance
System in East Asia”
Matsumoto Haruka (Institute of Developing Economies, JETRO, Japan) “Taiwan Strait Crises and ChiangKai-shek’s Strategic Thinking: A Perspective from Taiwan’s Archive”
Vojtech Mastny (Parallel History Project, Switzerland) “The ANZUS Experience and Security in Asia Pacific:
A Cold War Legacy”
Sergey Radchenko (Nottingham University, UK) “Carving up the Steppes: Borders, Territory and Nationalism
in Mongolia, 1943–1949”
Sören Urbansky (Freiburg University, Germany) “A Very Orderly Friendship: The Sino-Soviet Border underthe Alliance Regime, 1950–1960”
Pierre Grosser (Institut des Etudes Politiques, France) “Chinese Borders and Indigenous Parallels: France,
Vietnam, and the Korean Model”
David Wolff (SRC) “Stalin and Pan-Asianism: ‘The Peoples of Asia Are Looking to You with Hope’”No.19 February 2012

Lorenz Lüthi (McGill University, Canada) “Sino-Indian Relations, 1954–1960”
James Hershberg (George Washington University, US) “Quietly Encouraging Quasi-Alignment: US-Indian
Relations, the Sino-Indian Border War of 1962, and the Downfall of Krishna Menon”
Shen Zhihua (East China Normal University) “A Historical Investigation of the Sino-Korean Border Issue,
1950–1964”
Roundtable on Archives and Archival Projects: Japanese POW Project (Tomita Takeshi – Seikei University,
Japan); Japan (Gabe Masaaki – Ryukyu University, Japan); Korea (Kurata Hideya – National Defense
University, Japan); Russia (Sergey Radchenko – Nottingham University)

Global COE Program “Reshaping Japan’s
Border Studies”
The Global COE Program “Reshaping Japan’s Border Studies,” a five-year term programapproved in July 2009, has passed the halfway point.

1) Organizing a Border Studies Network in JapanOne of our tasks is to create aborder studies network in Japan thatwould unify fragmented individual
researchers working on border-related
topics in any area to the forum anddevelop collective works in a conscious
theoretical framework of border studies.
For this purpose, our GCOE Programorganized the Yonaguni and Taiwan
Seminars (May 14–15, 2011) supportedby the Japan Society of Island Studies,
the Northern Regions Center, and the
Sasakawa Peace Foundation. It is worth
mentioning that a charted plane flew theparticipants to Taiwan for the Taiwan Prof. Iwashita’s calling for hosting the next
Seminar. Thanks to similar activities, it BRIT Conference (BRIT XI, Grenoble)
seemed to us the ripe time to expand our network horizons. To that end, the Japan International
Border Studies Network (JIBSN) was established in November,2011. Currently, fourteen member organizations such as Tsushima
City, Nemuro City, and any other border local governments as well
as research institutes are listed.
As for the contribution to the worldwide border studies
network, young researchers of the GCOE are active participantsin the international network on border studies, including ABS
and BRIT XI, for example. This is an important step in raising
the appeal to conferences worldwide such as BRIT 2012. We are
now preparing for a borderland symposium that will take placein November 2012 under the auspices of the prestigious Border
Regions in Transition (BRIT) Conference.
See the following URL for more details: http://www.borderJapan’s Borders: How tostudies.jp/brit2012/top.html
Break the “Spell” (Hokkaido
University Publishing, 2010)No.19 February 2012

2) Winning one of the 24th Regional Publishers Cultural
Achievement Awards
Japan’s Borders: How to Break the “Spell” (『日本の国境・いかにこの「呪縛」を解くか』), edited by Prof. Iwashita and published by Hokkaido University Press, received the24th Regional Publishers Cultural Achievement Awards. This award is sponsored by Tottori
Prefecture and was first held in 1987, and is open to regional publishers from throughout
Japan. This book was issued in 2010 and is in fact the first academic achievement of our
GCOE Program. The prize money was donated fifty-fifty to the Etupirka Libraries on
Yonaguni and Tsushima, respectively.

3) Museum Exhibition

The sixth exhibition of the GCOE program:“China Seen from Across the Border”

This year, we held three exhibitionsat Hokkaido University Museum: “TheIndigenous People (Yaqui and Ainu) andthe Border” (Nov. 2010 – May. 2011),“Languages Go Beyond the Borders:
Russian and East European Writers’
Work and World” (May. 2011 – Nov.
2011), and “Spillover Images: China in
the Media” (Nov. 2011 – May 2012).
Serial seminars were also held alongwith the exhibitions. The exhibitions
and seminars were open to the public
and attracted many citizens.
Fujimori Shinkichi

Speakers at the GCOE Symposium “Weaving the Borders Together:
Network between Japan and the World” (November 25–27, 2011)
Kanto Yoshitada (Bukkyo University, Japan), “The Relationship between Chronicles about Batara Indra andClimate Change in Indonesia: Consciousness to the Blessing of the Water by Balinese across Time”
Mineta Shiro (Waseda University, Japan), “Politics of Scale in the Water Security: Impact from China inGreater Mekong Sub-region”
Doi Yasuhiro (Nagoya University, Japan), “Case Study of Cross-Border Labors: A Tri-national Border Region:
Oberrhein”
Jussi Laine (University of Eastern Finland), “Seeing Like a Border? Conceptualizing a Cross-border Space forSocial Contracting through Civil Society Organizations”
Tony Payan (University of Texas at El Paso, US), “Theory-Building in Border Studies: What the Borders ofNorth America Have to Teach Us”
James Scott (University of Eastern Finland), “Observations on European Border Studies: The Concept of
Bordering in Theoretical and Practical Terms”
Ishikawa Noboru (Kyoto University, Japan), “Between Frontiers: Nation and Identity in a Southeast Asian
Borderland”
Carl Middleton (Chulalongkorn University, Thailand), “Conflict, Cooperation and the Trans-border Commons:
The Controversy of Mainstream Dams on the Mekong River”
Duncan McDuie-Ra (University of New South Wales, Australia), “Beyond Greed and Grievance: The Northeast
Borderland in Contemporary India”
Sorin Sok (Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace), “A History of Cambodia and Engagement fromPower Countries”
Haim Yacobi (Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel), “The Geopolitics of a City-Borders, Boundaries
and Frontiers in Jerusalem”

No.19 February 2012

Emily Makas (The University of North Carolina at Charlotte, US), “The Boulevard and the Central Zone:
Divided Mostar’s Border Lines and Spaces”
Stephen Royle (Queen’s University Belfast, UK), “Divided Islands: The Case of Ireland”
Yara Tomohiro (Okinawa Times, Japan), “Exploring Solutions to the US Military-Base Issues in Okinawa”

Joint International Symposium“Grammaticalization and Lexicalization in
the Slavic Languages”
The above-mentioned international
symposium was held at the Slavic Research Center (SRC) from November
11 (Fri.) to 13 (Sun.), 2011. Mainly
taking advantage of the budget held by
the president of Hokkaido University in2011 (Presidential Budget for Project
Promotion “Support for Proposed
Research and Other Projects,” whose
representative is Motoki Nomachi),through the sponsorship of the Hokkaido University Global COE Program“Reshaping Japan’s Borders Studies,” aGrant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on
Innovative Ideas, Group 6, and others, A Photo taken from one of the sessions
this symposium was held under the joint auspices of the Commission on the Grammatical
Structure of the Slavic Languages of the International Committee of Slavists and the SRC.
A total of six sessions, one thematic session, and two keynote lectures were delivered bytwenty-six presenters from fifteen countries worldwide. This was the first comprehensive andlarge-scale symposium on Slavic linguistics ever held in Japan. At the same time, it served
as an extremely valuable opportunity for world-renowned specialists in Slavic linguistics
and Japanese Slavists to meet and exchange opinions. Future exchanges and development
of joint researches are expected.
In the symposium, changing patterns of the grammatical structure of the Slavic languages
were presented along with various methods in the framework of synchronic and diachronic
linguistics, comparative and contrastive studies, contact linguistics, and linguistic typology,
with a focus on the phenomena of “grammaticalization” and “lexicalization,” which areactively discussed in contemporary linguistics.
On November 11, seven non-member scholars from Japan and abroad delivered theirpresentations. On November 12 and 13, regular sessions were held by the members of theCommission with the participation of five non-members through the recommendation of
President Predrag Piper (Serbia) of the Commission.
The proceedings of this symposium are planned to be published as a volume of Verlag
Otto Sagner’s Die Welt der Slaven: Sammelbande-Sborniki, with Predrag Piper, Andriy Danylenko (US), and Motoki Nomachi comprising the members of the editorial committee.
The contents of the program are as follows.
Nomachi MotokiNo.19 February 2012

Speakers at the Symposium (November 11–13, 2011)
Eleonora Shii-Iovkova (Kanda International University ofForeign Studies, Japan) “Grammaticalization and the
Bulgarian -l Participle: Semantic-Functional Shift from
Tens Aspect to Modality”
Jan Ivar Bjørnflaten (University of Oslo, Norway) “Construction-Induced Grammaticalization: Agreement Loss and
Decategorialization of Predicative Participles in Old
Church Slavic”
Маруяма Юкико (Токийский университет иностранных
языков, Япония) “Употребление дуальных форм вжитийных текстах старорусского периода: грамма­тические и лексические факторы”Судзуки Рина (Медицинский университет Саппоро, Япония)“Русские предлоги и предложные единицы”Канэко Юрико (Университет Иватэ, Япония) “Функ­ционирование аспектуальных доминант в повествова­тельных текстах: на материале русского и японского
языков”
Romuald Huszcza (University of Warsaw / Jagiellonian University
in Cracow, Poland) “Grammaticalization of Honorifics inWest Slavic Languages”
Andriy Danylenko (Pace University, US) “Ukrainian in the Dr. Elena Paducheva
Language Map of Europe”
Mitani Keiko (Kyoto University, Japan) “On MIMO: a Consideration on Lexicalization in Slavic”
Борис Норман (Белорусский государственный университет, Беларусь) “Развитие притяжательных
местоимений 3-го лица в славянских языках в свете процессов грамматикализации”Розанна Бенаккьо (Падуанский университет, Италия) “Грамматикализация в ситуациях языкового
контакта: развитие артикля в резьянском диалекте”Предраг Пипер (Белградский университет, Сербия) “О грамматикализации сербских фемининативов”
Jens Nørgård-Sørensen (University of Copenhagen, Denmark) “Animacy in Russian – a Sub-Gender?”Ljubomir Popović (University of Belgrade, Serbia) “A Case of Interplay of Discourse and Grammar andDiscourse and Lexicon: The Use of Onomatopoeic Interjections in Serbo-Croatian and Other Standard
Languages of Štokavian Origin”
Greville Corbett (University of Surrey, UK) “Lexicalization and Paradigmatic Structure: Key Instances in
Slavonic”
Руселина Ницолова (Софийский университет им. Св. Климентa Охридского, Болгария) “О взаимоотношении
между формальными и семантическими изменениями при грамматикализации”Виктор Храковский (Институт лингвистических исследований РАН, Россия) “Статус значений, которые
могут выражаться глагольными лексемами и грамматическими морфемами (значения быть ипритворяться)”Ханну Томмола (Университет Тампере, Финляндия) “О показателях недостоверного (ирреального)сравнения”Ольга Богуславская (Институт русского языка им. В.В. Виноградова РАН, Россия) “Предельность инепредельность русских прилагательных”
Hattori Fumiaki (Kyoto University, Japan) “Grammaticalized or Not: Some Examples from the Early Old
Russian Past Tenses”
Елена Падучева (Всероссийский институт научной и технической информации РАН, Россия)“Моментальные глаголы совершенного вида и их стативные корреляты”
Elena Petroska (University of Ss. Cyril and Methodius in Skopje, Macedonia) “Evidentiality in Macedonian(Grammaticalization and Lexicalization)”Номати Мотоки (Центр славянских исследований при Хоккайдском университете, Япония) “Языковой
контакт и грамматикализация залоговой конструкции (на материале кашубского и других славянских
языков)”Юрий Апресян (Институт русского языка им. В.В. Виноградова РАН / Институт проблем передачи
информации им. А.А. Харкевича РАН, Россия) “Грамматика в словаре и словарь в грамматике”No.19 February 2012Адриан Барентсен (Амстердамский университет, Голландия) “Проблемы описания союза ПОКА”Игорь Богуславский (Институт проблем передачи информации им. А.А. Харкевича РАН, Россия /Мадридский технический университет, Испания) “О грамматикализации способов разрешения
синтаксических конфликтов”Андрея Желэ (Институт словенского языка им. Фр. Рамовша САНИ, Словения) “Экспрессивность каксловообразовательный элемент (на примере словенских глаголов)”Леонид Иомдин (Институт проблем передачи информации им. А.А. Харкевича РАН, Россия)“Микросинтаксис русского языка”

Session Entitled “Eurasianism Past and Present:
Views from the East” Held at the “Third East
Asian Conference of Slavic-Eurasian Studies” inBeijing on August 27–28, 2011
Russian exceptionalism as a Eurasian power is rooted in the ideas of Evraziistvo or
Eurasianism, a body of doctrines formulated in the 1920s and 1930s by anti-Bolshevik Russians. Many of these intellectuals and scholars had fled the Revolution and in West-European
emigration formulated what was effectively a new ideology of Russian nationalism. Such was
the power and evocative nature of the early Eurasianists’ ideas that they have been subject
to consideration in post-Soviet Russia with renewed interest and enthusiasm.
In recent years, there has been a corresponding resurgence in scholarly engagement withEurasianism; however, this has mainly been from an “Atlantic” perspective, focusing on its
political implications as an ideology of continental expansionism. In contrast, this panel,
which included Chinese, Japanese, British, and Russian scholars, explored Eurasianism
from a broader variety of intellectual, geographical, and chronological positions, particularly
from Asian perspectives towards Eurasianism and understandings of Asia in Eurasianist
thought.
In this panel, Yuxing Wu (Sun Yat-Sen University) and Shohei Saito (Hokkaido University / Masaryk University) discussed Classical Eurasianism from an Asian viewpoint. Paul
Richardson (University of Birmingham / Hokkaido University) discussed a case study of
the Southern Kuril Islands / Northern Territories and what it reveals about Eurasianism andcontemporary Russian identity. Kenso Yamamoto, who works in Korea, discussed racism
and fear of Asia in Russian thought. Andrei Popov (Moscow State University) and Yukiko
Kuroiwa (Iwate Prefectural University) provided a discussion of the papers. Popov madecomments on Classical Eurasianism and Russian thought. Kuroiwa mainly made comments
on Richardson’s paper and pointed out that Alexsandr Dugin’s idea is not “Eurasianism.”
These discussions clarified the difference between Classical Eurasianism and Neo Eurasianismand made us realize that there are various ways of researching Eurasianism (see Popov’s
review on this session: http://src-h.slav.hokudai.ac.jp/rp/group_06/achievements/index.
html#20111005).
We hope that the “Eurasian” background of the participants can help provide diverse
and innovative perspectives on this fascinating subject. It is also hoped that this panel willfurther academic cooperation and collaboration on Eurasianism among various countries.
This session was a really superb opportunity to know recent trends in research on
Eurasianism in individual countries, but it made me keenly realize that I have to develop
my practical Russian skills, especially speaking, to communicate effectively with Chinese
researchers. If I have a chance to attend a conference in China in the future, I will present myNo.19 February 2012

paper in Russian. However, I have also to mention that the English Camp, which was heldby the International Training Program, was useful for learning how to give a presentation
to an audience in English and I was able to make the acquaintance of Yujun Feng (China
Institutes of Contemporary International Relations) who participated in this Camp as a guest.
He kindly introduced me to Wu (see http://src-h.slav.hokudai.ac.jp/itp-hp/itp-index.html).
Finally, I attended this conference subsidized by the GCOE Border Studies Education
Program. I would not have succeeded in attending and organizing this panel without many
people’s kindness. I would like to express my gratitude to the professors, staff, and colleagues
who cooperated with me and gave comments and advice on my research paper. Thank youvery much again.
Saito Shohei

Obituary: Prof. Anatoly Viktorovich Remnev
Prof. Anatoly Viktorovich Remnev at Omsk
State University, who worked as a SRC foreign
fellow in 2007–2008, passed away on January
24, 2012, at the age of fifty-six.
Prof. Remnev was a prominent specialist
in the history of the Russian Empire, especially
Siberia and the Russian Far East. He wrote
a number of books in Russian, including
Samoderzhavie i Sibir’ (1995, 1997), Rossiia
Dal’nego Vostoka (2004), and Samoderzhavnoe
pravitel’stvo (2010). He is also known as a coeditor of Russian Empire: Space, People, Power,
1700–1930 (2007), a fundamental volume thatgathered works of American, British, and RussianProf. Remnev at the 2007 Summer
scholars who represent recent trends in the study
Symposiumof the Russian Empire. In 2005, his friends anddisciples published a volume of 600 pages, Aziatskaia Rossiia: liudi i struktury imperii,commemorating his fiftieth birthday.
He first visited the SRC in 2003 to participate in a symposium, and stayed here for ninemonths in 2007–2008. He was a distinguished scholar, and at the same time, a friendly andkind person. He generously shared his knowledge with colleagues and students, having
productive discussions and dialogues with them. The SRC Winter Symposium in 2007,“Asiatic Russia: Imperial Power in Regional and International Contexts,” owed much to his
ideas and suggestions.
Having earned his degrees under the guidance of Prof. Boris Anan’ich in Leningrad,
Anatoly Viktorovich spent his entire professional career at Omsk State University. In Russia, where academic resources are largely concentrated in Moscow and St. Petersburg, he
was one of the few historians based in Siberia who played a prominent role in nationwide
and worldwide scholarly networks. He used the approaches of both empirical research anddiscourse analysis, based on rich primary sources, and contributed tremendously to the studyof Russia’s imperial geography of power. In recent years, he also studied the history of
Kazakhstan, a significant part of which was formerly administered by the Steppe GovernorGeneralship in Omsk.
No.19 February 2012

We deeply mourn the untimely death of this talented scholar and teacher, who greatly
helped the SRC’s research activities.
Uyama Tomohiko

Foreign Visitors Fellowship Program
2012–2013:
Six scholars have been selected as foreign fellows for 2012–13:
Bekus-Gonczarowa, Nelly (assistant professor, East Slavic European Studies Department, University of Warsaw, Poland), Blyumbaum, Arkady (senior researcher, Russian Art
History Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia); Pang, Dongmei (associate professor,
Russian Research Institute, Heilongjiang University, China); Round, John (senior lecturer,
School of Geography, Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, UK);
Ryazantsev, Sergey (professor, Institute of Socio-Political Researches, Russian Academyof Sciences, Russia); Weeks, Theodore (professor, History Department, Southern Illinois
University, US)
Nelly Bekus-Gonczarowa is a Polish specialist in sociology. The title of her research
project at the SRC will be “Belarusian Ethno-linguistic Nationalism versus Ideology ofRussian Civilization: In the Search of Belarusian Development.” She will stay in Sapporo
from November 1, 2012 through March 31, 2013.
Arkady Blyumbaum is a Russian specialist in the history of Russian literature. The
title of his research project at the SRC will be “Aleksandr Blok: Literature and Politics(1905–1921).” He will stay in Sapporo from November 1, 2012 through March 31, 2013.
Pang Dongmei is a Chinese specialist in criminal law and criminology. The title of her
research project at the SRC will be “Countering the Crimes Committed by Nationals of the
PRC on the Territory of the Russian Far East.” She will stay in Sapporo from November 1,
2012 through March 31, 2013.
John Round is a British specialist in human geography and sociology. The title of his
research project at the SRC will be “Coping with the Uncertain Everyday: Everyday Lifein Contemporary Russia.” He will stay in Sapporo from June 1, 2012 through October 31,
2012.
Sergey Ryazantsev is a Russian specialist in demography. The title of his research
project at the SRC will be “Ethnic Migrations and Formation of Diasporas in Frontier Regions
in a Context of National Security of Russia.” He will stay in Sapporo from June 1, 2012
through October 31, 2012.
Theodore Weeks is an American specialist in history. The title of his research projectat the SRC will be “Vilna, Wilno, Vilnius: History of a Multicultural City, 1795–2000.” Hewill stay in Sapporo from June 1, 2012 through October 31, 2012.
Osuga Mika

No.19 February 2012

Two Professors Who Left the SRC
Prof. Arai Nobuo retired in March 2011.
Prof. Arai had worked for the SRC since May 2003. During his stay in the SRC, Prof. Arai
worked on the changing socio-economic situation of the Russian Far East after perestroika.
He also studied the history of Sakhalin post World War II. As a distinguished specialist in
Russo-Japanese economic and fishery relations, he has contributed much to the developmentof scientific exchange between Japan and the Russian Far East.

Prof. Hayashi Tadayuki moved to Kyoto Women’s University in
April 2011.
Prof. Hayashi had worked for the SRC since April 1994. He is an unique specialist incomparative politics of East European countries and the political history of Czechoslovakia.
He has led the Japanese academic community to the research of European interwar diplomatic
history. He was director of the SRC for two years since 1996, and vice-president of Hokkaido
University from 2006 to 2011.
Mochizuki Tetsuo

Our Current Staff
Ieda Osamu: Professor, Economic History of Eastern Europe; Modern Hungarian History;
Environment in Slavic Eurasia
Iwashita Akihiro: Professor, Foreign Policy; Sino-Russian Relations
Matsuzato Kimitaka: Professor, Politics in Post-Communist Countries; Imperial Historyof Russia
Mochizuki Tetsuo: Professor, Russian Literature; director of the SRC
Naganawa Norihiro: Associate professor, Modern History of Central Eurasia; Muslim
Policies of the Russian Empire
Nomachi Motoki: Associate professor, Slavic Linguistics; General Linguistics
Tabata Shinichiro: Professor, Russian Economics and Statistics
Uyama Tomohiko: Professor, Central Asian History and Politics; Comparative Imperial
Studies
Wolff David: Professor, Russian, Soviet, and Emigre; Siberia and the Far East; The Cold
War; Northeast Asian Region Construction
Yamamura Rihito: Professor, Comparative Economics; Agrarian Economy in Slavic-Eurasian Countries

Assistant Professors:
Fujimori Shinkichi: Ukrainian Politics; CIS Relations
Fukuda Hiroshi: Modern and Contemporary History of Central Europe
Goto Masanori: Cultural Anthropology; Religious and Scientific Recognition andPractices
Koshino Go: Russian and Belarusian Literature

Foreign Visitors Fellows 2011 (June) – 2012 (March)
Elena Astafieva:The Russian Presence in Palestine-Syria: Political, Religious and Cultural
Aspects (1840–1920)10

No.19 February 2012

Tomasz Kamusella: The Triple Division of the Slavic Languages: A Linguistic Finding, aProduct of Politics, or an Accident
Taras Kuzio: Contemporary History of Ukraine
Georgij Levinton: Mandelstam and Dostoevsky (Slavophilism, pochvennichestvo,
anti-Semitism)
Nona Shakhnazaryan: Old Habits Die Hard: A Comparative Study of Clientelism, Nepotism
and Corruption in Three Post-Socialist Societies
Vladimir Shishkin: Russian Statehood in Siberia and the Far East during the Great Wars andRevolutions, 1917–1922

Research Fellows:
Adachi Daisuke: Russian Romantic Literatures
Cheng Chierh: Acoustic Phonetics; Prosody; Taiwan Mandarin
Chida Tetsuro: Soviet History
Hanamatsu Yasunori: International Laws
Hirayama Akihiro: Modern and Contemporary History of Vietnam
Hoshino Masashi: Chinese Economics; Development Economics
Inoue Satoko: German-Polish Trans-border Literatures
Itani Hiroshi: Architectural History of Sakhalin and Karafuto
Kikuta Haruka: Cultural Anthropology; Muslim Society in Central Asia; Saint Worship in
Uzbekistan
Kiyama Katsuhiko: Archaeology of Northeast Asia
Komatsu Hisae: Hindi Literatures; Indian Cultural Studies
Maeda Shiho: Russian Literature
Miyazaki Haruka: Polish Nationalism and the Catholic Church
Miwa Hiroki: Indian Politics
Morishita Yoshiyuki: Central and Eastern European History
Paul Richardson: The Northern Territorial Issues
Takiguchi Junya: History of the Communist Party of the USSR

Library and Information Service Staff:
Osuga Mika: Research associate, Publications
Tonai Yuzuru: Associate professor, SRC head librarian

Ongoing Cooperative Research Projects(Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science)
Headed by Tabata Shinichiro: “Comparative Research on Major Regional Powers inEurasia” (2008-12)
Headed by Iwashita Akihiro: “Hokkaido University Global COE Program: Reshaping
Japan’s Border Studies” (2009-13)
Headed by Mochizuki Tetsuo: “A Comprehensive Study of the Volga as a Cultural Areaand Her Images” (2009–11)
Headed by Wolff David: “Northeast Asia in the Cold War: New Materials and Perspectives” (2009–12)
Headed by Matsuzato Kimitaka: “Resurgence of Religions in Russia: Public Roles,
Life Histories, and Spatial Dynamism” (2009–11)
11

No.19 February 2012

Headed by Uyama Tomohiko: “Comparative History of Empires in the Contexts ofModernization and Globalization” (2009–12)
Headed by Matsuzato Kimitaka: “Transnational Politics in the Black Sea Rim: Unknotting Religions, States, and Minorities” (2009–11)
Headed by Hara Teruyuki: “Modern History of the Sakhalin Island (Karafuto), as a
Borderland Colony: Wars, States, and Regions” (2010–13)
Headed by Kiyama Katsuhiko: “Archaeological Research on the Mohe Tribes in the Far
East” (2008–12)
Headed by Naganawa Norihiro: “Empire and the Hajj: A View from Russia’s Muslim
Regions, 1865–1914” (2010–12)
Headed by Tonai Yuzuru: “Development of Theology in the Russian Orthodox Church
and Filaret (Metropolitan of Moscow)” (2010–12)
Headed by Koshino Go: “Comparative Study on Historical Novels in Russia, Ukraine
and Belarus” (2009–2011)
Headed by Nomachi Motoki: “A Comprehensive Study of the Kashubian Syntax”(2010–12)
Headed by Itani Hiroshi: “The Historic Transition of Urban Spaces in the Peripheral
Areas of the Soviet Union: Russian Far East, Ukraine, and Central Asia” (2010–11)
Headed by Kusano Kayako: “The Ruling Bureaucracy and Local Self-Government inImperial Russia: Organization and Activities of the Ministry of Internal Affairs before the1905 Revolution” (2010–12)
Headed by Goto Masanori: “Anthropological Study of the History of Divination andof Its Practice in Chuvash, Russia” (2009–11)
Headed by Komatsu Hisae: “‘Modernity’ in Magazines: The Representations of Modern
India in Hindi Women’s Magazines” (2010–13)
Headed by Sumika Masayoshi: “Comparative Study of the Influence of Social Darwinism
on Nationalism and Religion in Japanese and Chinese Modernity” (2011–13)
Headed by Inoue Satoko: “A Comparative Study of the Polish Literature in the PolishGerman Borderlands and the Polish Migrant Literature in Germany” (2011–14)
Headed by Takiguchi Junya: “The Making of Communists: A Global History of Communism and Communist Identities in 1919–1943” (2011–14)
Headed by Hirayama Akihiro: “A Historical Study on the Construction of the General
Mobilization System in Northern Vietnam under the Influence of the Cold War Politics during
the First Indochina War Period” (2011–13)
Headed by Kikuta Haruka: “Changes of Islamic Practices among Muslim Women and
Their Impacts on Re-Islamization Process in Contemporary Central Asia” (2011–14)
Headed by Miyazaki Haruka: “Public Religions in Poland” (2010–12)
Headed by Morishita Yoshiyuki: “Nation State and Regional Society in Central-Eastern
Europe in the First Half of 20th Century” (2011–14)
Beatrice Penati (Headed by Uyama Tomohiko): “The Land-and-Water Reform in
Uzbekistan: Sovietization of Rural Society before Collectivisation” (2009–11)

Visitors from Abroad
Shamshad Khan (Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA), New Delhi, India),
December 2010 – March 2011: His research project at the SRC is “Indo-Japan Strategic
Relations: India’s Search for Reciprocity.”
12

No.19 February 2012

El’za-Bair Guchinova (Japan Foundation fellow from Russia), June 2011 – April 2012:
Her research project at the SRC is “Images of Captive Memory: Visual Memories of Japanese
POWs of the Gulag.”Paul Richardson (JSPS postdoctoral fellow from UK), July 2011 – July 2012: His
research project at the SRC is “Beyond Northern Territories Discourses: Japan’s Centerregional Politics and National Identity.”
Kuralay Maksut (graduate student, L. N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University,
Kazakhstan), July-August 2011: Her research project at the SRC is “Relationships between
EU Countries and Central European Countries.”
Jeyhun Mahmudlu (Qafqaz University, Azerbaijan), September-October 2011: His
research project at the SRC is “Relationships between Azerbaijan and Japan: Perspectivesof Energy Cooperation.”
Vesna Požgaj Hadži (JSPS fellow from Slovenia), October 2011: Her research projectat the SRC is “A Contemporary Sociolinguistic Look at Former Yugoslavia.”
Urazgali Selteyev (graduate student, L. N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University,
Kazakhstan), November 2011.
Sardaana Mukhina (Japan Russia Youth Exchange Center fellow from Russia),
November 2011 – October 2012: Her research project at the SRC is “Russia-Japan: Trends
in the Field of Economy and Energy.”
Monika Chansoria (Center for Land Warfare Studies, India), January-March 2012:
Her research project at the SRC is “China’s Rise in Asia: Implications for Regional
Stakeholders.”
Elena Ikonnikova (Sakhalin State University, Russia), January-March 2012: Her research
project at the SRC is “Russo-Japanese comparative literature on Sakhalin.”El’mira Nogoibaeva (Analytical Center “Polis Asia,” Kyrgyzstan), January-March 2012:
Her research project at the SRC is “Comparative Analysis of Political Elites of Kyrgyzstan
and Japan.”

Guest Lecturers from Abroad (-Jan. 2012)
Peter Gatrell (University of Manchester), “World Refugee Year, 1959–1960 and theHistory of Population Displacement,” January 12, 2011.
Jiří Nekvapil (Charles University), “Old Borders in New Contexts: On the Language
Situation in Multinational Companies Operating in Central Europe,” March 3, 2011.
Dieter Stern (Ghent University, Belgium), “Negotiating Goods and Languages on
Cross-border Retail Markets in the Postsocialist Space,” March 10, 2011.
Arvind Gupta (IDSA) and S. S. Parmar (IDSA), “Indo-Japanese Dialogue on Eurasia,”
March 11, 2011.
Rajaram Panda (IDSA), “Changing Dynamics of India-Japan Relations: Future Trends,”
March 11, 2011.
Romuald Huszcza (University of Warsaw, Poland), “Territorial Change and Removalof National Language: The Fate of Poland and Its Language after World War II,” March 30,
2011.
Iikka Korhonen (Bank of Finland), “Forecasting Economic Developments in Major
Emerging Markets―Some Preliminary Results,” June 2, 2011.
Brian Joseph (Ohio State University, US), “Phonological Borrowing and Language
Borders in the Balkans,” June 20, 2011.
13No.19 February 2012

Wayles Browne (Cornell University, US), “Burgenland Croatian: An Old Language on
a Do-It-Yourself Border with a New Name,” June 21, 2011.
Alfred Majewicz (Adam Mickiewicz University, Poland), “Saving Moribund and Dead
Languages: Neglected Issues in Minority Language Research and Policies,” July 28, 2011.
Vít Dovalil (Charles University in Prague, Czech Rep.), “On the Status of German in
the European Union,” September 29, 2011.
Marián Sloboda (Charles University in Prague, Czech Rep.), “How Similar and MutuallyIntelligible Are Slavic Languages?” September 29, 2011
Sufian Zhemukhov (George Washington University, US), “Islamic Practices andSocio-Political Behavior in the North Caucasus: Effects of the Hajj Pilgrimage,” October
17, 2011.
Kermen Nadneeva (Kalmyk State University, Russia), “Buddhism in Kalmykia,”
November 7, 2011.
Predrag Piper (University of Belgrade, Serbia), “Comparative Studies about Russianand Serbian Languages,” November 10, 2011.
Greville Corbett (University of Surrey, UK), “Canonical Typology and Slavonic Lexical
Splits,” November 10, 2011.
Iveta Reinholde (University of Latvia), “Economic Reform after the Financial Crisis
in Latvia,” November 29, 2011.
Beata Wojna (Polish Institute of Foreign Affairs (PISM), Poland), “The Eastern Partnership: A Long-term Strategy at Work,” November 30, 2011.
Katarzyna Pełczyńska-Nałęcz (Center for Eastern Studies (OSW), Poland), “Turning
Partnership into Business: The Eastern Partnership as an economic Project,” November 30,
2011.
Rafał Sadowski (Center for Eastern Studies (OSW), Poland), “Developments in the Eastern European
Countries: Challenges and Prospects
for the EU and the Eastern Partnership,”November 30, 2011.
Adam Balcer (Center for European
Strategy, Demos Europa, Poland), “A
Power Audit: The Third States (Russia,
China, the US, Turkey and Others) as
Stake Holders in the Eastern Partnership,” November 30, 2011.
Alla Kassianova (Independent researcher, US), “Between .ru and .com:
Online Self-representation of Russian Prof. Timothy Colton
Defense Companies,” December 16, 2011.
Timothy Colton (Harvard University, US), “Are Cracks Appearing in Putin’s Political
System?” January 10, 2012.
Kim Byung-Yeon (Seoul National University, Korea), “Russia’s Informal Economy and
Entrepreneurship,” January 21, 2012.

14No.19 February 2012

How I Was Interwoven into International Borders:
Secret Stories behind the Birth of the Global COE
Program “Reshaping Japan’s Border Studies”
Iwashita Akihiro (SRC)

I “Vow” in Yonaguni
One of the goals for the Global
Center of Excellence (GCOE) Program“Reshaping Japan’s Border Studies”
started in October 2009 was to form not
an association, but a network engaged
in international border studies in Japan.
It all started when I was asked to forma “Borderlands Forum” at the Yonaguni
Conference of the Japan Society of Island Studies held in September 2007.
Along with Yonaguni Mayor Shukichi
Hokama, Nemuro Mayor Shunsuke
Hasegawa and the then-TsushimaMayor Yoshiyuki Matsumura broughtup the idea of having a “borderland
city summit.” It was good, but almost
immediately thereafter I happened to be
invited to a think tank in Washington
DC, at the Brookings Institution, as a
Visiting Fellow.
I work on a first-come, first-served
basis to the greatest extent possible– that is my motto. Therefore, at theend of August, I left my accompaniedfamily behind and headed for Yonaguni Yaeyama Islands: Live performance of
via Narita within just two weeks after Shimanaka Hisahi Family band in Hokkaido
arriving in Washington. It might sound University
completely effortless, but I got into
trouble after arriving in Narita. What was a tropical cyclone when I left Washington had
turned into a typhoon when I arrived at Narita Airport, and it had cancelled all flights toNaha. As soon as I reached Yonaguni via Ishigaki a day behind schedule, the forum had
kicked off. The Tsushima Mayor gave up coming to Yonaguni. The Nemuro Mayor wasable to dodge the typhoon on his outward journey, but was pursued by the next typhoon on
his way back and got stuck in Ishigaki for a whole day. “I thought the weather in Nemuro
was harsh, but that of isolated islands is much more severe, isn’t it?” That was a very candid
statement by the Nemuro Mayor. Later when arriving in Nemuro in winter, the Yonaguni
Mayor had his turn, falling three times on a snowy road and speaking of the severity of theweather in Hokkaido.
15

No.19 February 2012

On my way home, I was ruminating about the fact that Tsushima Mayor could not makeit because of a typhoon. I felt that it must be a voice from heaven that this event should
not be ended as a one-time-only show. In October 2008, being lured by the words “the40th Anniversary of the restoration of the Ogasawara Islands,” I planned to hold a forumin Ogasawara with volunteers from the Japan Society of Island Studies. However, I was
newly appointed Director of the Slavic Research Center and had already brought trouble tomy colleagues with a 10 month stay in the United States. There was much hesitation about
going leaving Sapporo for a week. After all, I gave up my own participation.
In the summer of 2009, when I was beginning to think that the next forum would be
hosted in Nemuro, we received wonderful news that “Reshaping Japan’s Border Studies”
was selected as a Global COE Program. This made our planned “Borderland Forum in
Nemuro” larger and larger as an event of the Global COE Program. “Let’s link it to theinternational symposium for the starting up of the Global COE Program in December. Let’sshow the Northern Territories to Western researchers.” Furthermore, we wanted to deliver
the fruits of the prior two forums, Japan’s Borders: How to Break the “Spell” (Nihon no
Kokkyo: Ikani kono “Jubaku” wo Tokuka) published by Hokkaido University Press in a
Slav and Eurasia series, to local people first and foremost at the “Borderland Forum in
Nemuro.” Consequently, a book discussion was organized with all the authors. However,
because of the snow, it was immediately before the event was to begin when the books were
finally delivered from Hokkaido University Press to the hall via a parcel delivery service.
The “Borderland Forum in Nemuro” was very exciting with participation by the Yonaguni
Mayor, as well as new Tsushima Mayor Yasunari Takarabe and Masaaki Shibuya, a section
chief of Ogasawara village. Nonetheless, only the reflection remained that I had turned myfellows around my little finger in the forum: most members of the staff were new to theirposts because the Global COE Program had just started. I myself ran about in utter confusion
as an inexperienced Director of the Center, and it was a hastily organized event in Nemuro.
All I can do is to apologize sincerely to the people who made every effort at the time.
My reflection continues. “People come to gather here all the long way, so I want you toenrich the content, not just the event itself.” The words from the enthusiastic Tsushima Mayor
shot through me. At the same time, he called for the people to have a forum in Tsushima in
the autumn of 2010.
Creating a practical network to connect border regions – this new assignment was sharedwith fellow members who had organized forums together and decided to be subsidized by the
Sasakawa Peace Foundation. I could not be happier about the development of the project, but
the expansion of the operating scale was driving me into a corner. In addition, the venue forthe next forum was not Nemuro but Tsushima: far away from Hokkaido. Fortunately I am aperson from Kyusyu. I contacted my acquaintances one by one and was finally able to findan excellent partner to handle on-site logistics, Mr. Takayoshi Kabu of the Kyushu Economic
Research Center. Mr. Kabu is proficient in Korean and travels between Busan and Fukuoka
almost every week. He is a human bridge linking the Japan-Korea strait coastal regions.
However, even for such a person like Mr. Kabu, organizing the forum in Tsushima seemed
difficult to address in the ordinary way. Thanks to strenuous efforts by Associate Prof. Koji
Furukawa of Chukyo University and others, we were able to invite practitioners in charge ofcross-border cooperation in municipal governments. The forum was expanded in a regional
sense by the participation of Wakkanai, Taketomi, Daito-Jima, Sado, and Oki, in addition tofour municipalities (Yonaguni, Ogasawara, Nemuro, and Tsushima) where the forums hadtaken place. After four municipalities made a round of forums, it seemed sufficient to havea “Borderland Forum” with entertainment tastes. There was a growing tendency to form apractice-based network for international border studies.
16No.19 February 2012

However, a new challenge was waiting for me. Being in a good mood after getting
through the forum in Tsushima, I called to organize a practical meeting in Yonaguni on asmall scale for the preparation of the network. Yonaguni Mayor Hokama, who heard the
proposal came back with “Why not make good use of the opportunity? Let’s charter a planeand hold another seminar in Taiwan.” I was thwarted in my plan to hold a compact forum
this time around. How many sleepless nights did I spend this year because of the “battle”
over the charter flight between Yonaguni and Hualian (although I was able to get better sleep
than I was in my office as Director of the Center)? I do not want to recall any of those nights
actually. The time is not yet ripe to write about things that happened after that.
Frankly speaking, since teaching at the university, I had never imagined that I would
have to do things that a manager of a travel agency would do. However, thinking it through,it might be necessary for me to undertake the role if I wanted to take many people tointernational border regions because travel firms are a pioneering presence in coordinating
border crossings. Although the Global COE Program is often regarded as glamorous at firstglance, sober negotiations and persistent efforts through experiencing friction in isolatedislands and rural areas are hard things to do and are the opposite of a comfortable city life.
Border studies cannot produce results unless we patiently continue to do legwork, such as
making rounds of visits to the actual sites or doing unsolicited activities. I have to maketime to think one way or another: not by sitting at my desk, but by gathering small pieces oftime, such as when sitting in the plane, on the train, or in the driver’s seat of a car, but also
when jogging, taking a walk, or when waiting in intervals of a reception. Regrettably for
those researchers who come to our Global COE Program in search of classical academism,
we would be unable to meet their expectations.
In the course of my busy life, I suddenly remembered that an organization named Japan
International Border Studies Network (JIBSN) is to be set up on November 27, 2011.1 Looking
at it as if it is other people’s business, the appealing phrase is pretty smart and beautiful. They aregoing to hold a border-crossing seminar next summer as the first project of the network, traversing by regular ferry from Wakkanai to Sakhalin. Voices from Wakkanai reach my ears, “Let’scharter a plane on the way back home.” Until when will my sleepless nights continue?

II “Spell” in Washington
Another goal that the Global COE
Program “Reshaping Japan’s BorderStudies” set up is to bring international
border studies in Eurasia and Eastern
Asia together and “sell” them to theworld. For that purpose, we invite
a European-born research network,
Border Regions in Transition (BRIT) to
Japan. Having trouble with the Northern
Territories issue, it is impossible to hostan international border symposiumwith Russia. On that account, we plan
to invite BRIT in Fukuoka and Busancrossing the Tsushima offshore, whoseborders are the most stable (clearest) BRIT IX reunion on board to the States fromin the areas surrounding Japan. It is a Canada
1 See http://www.borderstudies.jp/jibsn/ (in Japanese). The English information is available
soon.

17

No.19 February 2012

BRIT practice to implement a conference moving between areas across international borders
with two countries. With the Berlin Conference of 1994 as the start, the conferences havebeen held in countries of Europe in turn, but in recent years, they have also been held in
North America and South America.2
The plan all started with a request made by a professor of Hokkai-Gakuen University.
They were going to hold a symposium on the border with Russia in conjunction with thewell-known Karelian Institute, University of Joensuu (presently the University of Eastern
Finland) in October 2007 and wanted me to report international border issues in Russia,
Central Asia, and China. Shortly after I had accepted the request, an invitation was deliveredfrom Washington DC.
As “I work on a first-come, first-served basis to the greatest extent possible” is my
motto, one month after moving to Washington, I left my family behind again, incurring theirresentment. The then Director was Prof. Ilkka Liikanen of the Karelian Institute. He wasone of the presenters at the First Global COE International Symposium of December 2009,
and above all, a founding member of BRIT. As soon as he found out that I was in the UnitedStates, he called and suggested to that I participate in the Border Regions in Transition IX
Conference (Victoria, Canada – Bellingham, US), which was to take place in the end ofJanuary 2008. I am ashamed to say that I did not know about the existence of BRIT at thatpoint. Now I criticize studies of international border issues in Eurasia and East Asia becauseof its “isolation” from the world and lack of networks with an air of superiority. However,in fact, until a few years ago, I was the very person who should have been the target of mycriticism.
For your information, Prof. Liikanen has taken part in all BRIT conferences but one.
This surpasses the record of Prof. James Scott, who served as President of ABS (described
below) and who was active and based in Berlin as a founding member of BRIT. Probably
there is no BRIT medalist who can beat the record of Prof. Liikanen.3
The introduction from Prof. Liikanen had an immediate effect. Although the submissionof proposals had already been closed long ago, I got myself into the conference as a reporterby force and showed my favorite party piece “Journey through the Eurasian Borders” using
slides. It was to introduce the situation in spots through a more than 8000 km field trip
crossing the borders from China, Central Asia, and Russia to Japan. I was the only reporterfor border issues in the Eurasia region.
In the meantime, as I heard discussions in the BRIT IX conference, I became frustrated.
“How peaceful and stable the North American borders are. It is really enviable. Despite that,why do these guys make such a big thing of it saying ‘challenge, challenge’?” Among thediscussions, the most controversial one was on the “Smart Border policy” introduced by theUnited States after September 11. The policy has made it difficult to enter into the UnitedStates smoothly from Canada. It was discussed how much economic losses it would cause,and numerous criticisms were raised against the US government. However, I could not findany particular challenge in the custom clearance procedures in Canada and the United Statesand had no idea what the problem was. While I was confused, a researcher sitting next tome whispered. “It used to take five minutes, but now it takes 30 min. They feel inconvenienced by that.” 30 min! This gave a shock to me, who was reminded of the clearance in
the international borders between China and Russia. At this point, I was awakened to themeaning of comparing one border region to another border region. Prof. David Newman of
2 On the BRIT 2012, see http://www.borderstudies.jp/brit2012/top.html
3 For the record of the BRIT, see: http://www.borderstudies.jp/en/publications/review/data/
ebr/2_Liikanen6.pdf
On the ABS, see http://www.absborderlands.org/

18

No.19 February 2012

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, who knew well about the harshness of border issues in
Israel, said to me. “Take these guys to your research field of Eurasia once.”
Everybody criticizes policy makers. It is a healthy thing to do. However, there was noresearcher from the East Coast, to say nothing of Washington DC, other than Washington state
government officials. (I was the only participant from the East. Moreover, I was an alien.)
In the Brookings Institution I had begun to realize how people around me were indifferent tointernational border issues, and thus I could not bear raising my hand at a luncheon session
where the topic was heated. “I have been engaged in border studies for many years. It is
often difficult to be understood, but in this BRIT conference, there is no need to explain whatborders are all about to get started. This makes me delighted and I feel that I finally found theplace for me. On the other hand, although I understood your pent-up anger against the US
government, there is no one here who is involved in policy making. Even if you raised yourvoices in a place like this, your thoughts would not be conveyed to them. What channel areyou going to use to get them to reflect on policies?” A dead silence fell over the conference
hall. People working for Washington State responded that our voices would reach the central
government, but we were unable to hear the specific content. After the gathering, someone
approached to me. “It’s just as you said.” In this instant, I realized that it was also my mission
to “sell” the importance of international
border issues to Washington DC andcapital cities.
As a practice of BRIT, the methodof organizing the next conference isdiscussed on the final day. Because
BRIT is a network and next organizers
take over all things pertaining to a next
conference, they have no permanent
office. It is customary that proposals
are received at the final plenary meeting,
BRIT organizers in charge at the time
discuss them, and the baton is handed
over to the next organizers. In the conference in Bellingham, Washington, no BRIT IX last day: Greetings fromone raised their hand to be an organizer Dr. Emmanuelin charge of the next conference. Prof. Paul Ganster of San Diego State University, the former
BRIT organizer, pressured me saying “You should do it in Japan.” But, I am a newcomer. I
am not ready mentally, not to mention ready for preparation. All I could respond with was“after the next.”
The then host of BRIT was Prof. Emmanuel Brunet-Jailly of the University of Victoria.
Not only did he strongly support our Global COE Program from the stage of application, but
he took part in the First Global COE International Conference and the “Borderlands Forumin Tsushima” of 2010 and offered full support to invite the BRIT XII Conference (FukuokaBusan 2012). A chance meeting with him let me know of the existence of Association for
Borderlands Studies (ABS) based in North America and rush from Washington DC to theconference in Denver that was set to take place two months later, in April 2008 (The submission of proposals had already been closed, of course.).
Being tossed about by Washington DC and returning to Japan, I received a notice that
BRIT X would be held in the international border areas between Chile and Peru of SouthAmerica in June 2009. I intended to take part in the conference and immediately submitted
a report proposal. What was standing in my way was the H1N1 swine flu. At the time,19No.19 February 2012

Hokkaido University required a one-week “work suspension” after returning to Japan from
“infected areas.” Although I was rather getting used to the job, I could not afford to leave
the office of Director of the Center so often.
In the next month, the news was delivered that our program pledged to invite BRIT toJapan was selected by the Global COE. I recall the promise made with Prof. Ganster. On
the day when I received the news, the “vow” turned into a “spell” and it has been ruminatedon in my dreams. My sleepless nights seem not to end for some time to come.
* The Global Center of Excellence Program is a subsidized project by the Japan Society for the
Promotion of Science launched in 2007. The Program will strengthen and enhance the education
and research functions of graduate schools in Japan, to foster highly creative young researchers
who will go on to become world leaders in their respective fields through experiencing andpracticing research of global excellence.
		 The Program will provide funding support for establishing education and research centers that
perform at the apex of global excellence to elevate the international competitiveness of Japanese
universities. The Global COE Program Committee reviews applications and determines grant
selection.4
4 See the following homepage of the Global COE Program “Reshaping Japan’s Border Studies”
http://www.borderstudies.jp/en/

Publications (2011)

Slavic Studies no. 58, 2011, refereed journal of the SRC (in Japanese with summaries
in English or Russian).
Acta Slavica Iaponica vols. XXIX and XXX, 2011, refereed journal of the SRC (inEnglish and Russian).
Nomachi Motoki, ed., “Grammaticalization in Slavic Languages: From Areal and
Typological Perspectives (revised and enlarged edition),” Slavic Eurasian Studies no. 23(Sapporo: SRC, 2011) (in English and Serbian).
Nomachi Motoki, ed., “The Grammar of Possessivity in South Slavic Languages:
Synchronic and Diachronic Perspectives,” Slavic Eurasian Studies no. 24 (Sapporo: SRC,
2011) (in English and Russian).
Hayashi Tadayuki and Sengoku Manabu, eds., “Politics and Economics in the Period ofPost-Socialism: Comparing Former Soviet Union and Central and Eastern Europe,” Slavic
Eurasian Library no. 9 (Sapporo: Hokkaido University Press, 2011) (in Japanese).
Hara Teruyuki, ed., “Russo-Japanese War and Sakhalin Island,” Slavic Eurasian Library
no. 10 (Sapporo: Hokkaido University Press, 2011) (in Japanese).
Uyama Tomohiko, ed., Asiatic Russia: Imperial Power in Regional and International
Contexts (Routledge, 2011) (in English: proceedings of the SRC’s Winter Symposium in2007).
Publications by the project “Comparative Research: Major Regional Powers in Eurasia”
Iwashita Akihiro, ed., “India-Japan Dialogue: Challenge and Potential,” Comparative
Studies on Regional Powers no. 6 (Sapporo: SRC, 2011) (in English).
20

No.19 February 2012

Publications by the Global COE Program “Reshaping Japan’s Border Studies”
Eurasia Border Review vol. 2, no. 1, 2011, refereed journal in English.
Japan Border Review no. 2, 2011, refereed journal in Japanese with summaries inEnglish.
Nakamura Tadashi, ed., Лев Толстой: сквозь рубежи и межи (Sapporo: SRC, 2011)(in Russian and English).

The Library
Ongoing Renovation of the University Library Building
As announced earlier last year that the University Library building has been undergoingrenovation (scheduled to finish in fall, 2012). During the meantime, some library services
are unavailable to the users. Those services include access to special collections of the
Slavic studies such as “Collection of Russian Émigré Literature,” “Library of Prof. James R.
Gibson,” “Boris Souvarine Collection” and dissertations from North America and the UK.
The periodicals of the Slavic Collection are also temporarily inaccessible because of being
relocated to a newly equipped automatic stack system. We apologize for any inconvenience
this may have incurred.
The Latin script part of the Slavic Collection will be incorporated into the European
language books in the Central Library. It is hoped that our valuable collections will beproperly located by the completion of renovation.

British Parliamentary Papers and FBIS Database Introduced
Last year the University Library began the subscription of the online database of the
19th & 20th century Parliamentary Papers (House of Commons), the access to which is now
available from all Hokudai campuses.
The Slavic Research Center begins subscribing to some parts of the FBIS database, which
consists of English translations of newspaper articles and reports from new agencies (dated
from 1940 to 1996). The access to the subscribed FBIS database is only available from the
SRC computers. Users can find the relevant entrance on the SRC Library website.
Tonai Yuzuru

21

No.19 February 2012

Some scenes

from the year-end party(December 22, 2011)

The Center director treating staff to wine

Graduate students also enjoying themselves (forgetting the coming deadlineof their master theses for a moment)
Essay
Iwashita Akihiro

An Armenian researcher
dancing in Indian costume

Presents being given to children ofvarious ages

How I Was Interwoven into International Borders: Secret Stories behind the Birthof the Global COE Program “Reshaping Japan’s Border Studies”............p. 15

Slavic Research Center
Hokkaido University
Kita-9, Nishi-7, Kita-ku, Sapporo, Japan 060-0809
Telephone: (81) 11-706-2388
Facsimile:(81) 11-706-4952
E-mail: src@slav.hokudai.ac.jp
Internet home page http://src-h.slav.hokudai.ac.jp/				index-e.html

22