On August 24, 2013, at Tokyo Kioicho Campus, the Josai Center for Innovation hosted the 3rd Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Josai Forum, cosponsored by Nara prefecture. This year’s forum invited former Secretary-General of the ASEAN, Dr. Surin Pitsuwan to deliver a lecture entitled, “Japan in Developing East Asia and the Changing State of Global Affairs.”

The commemorative lecture series dubbed “ASEAN Forum Josai” was developed to celebrate the 40th anniversary of cooperative relations between Japan and ASEAN. The first installment, which invited lecturers from Josai’s sister schools in Malaysia, was held in March and the second, which featured a lecture from Technology Promotion Association, Thailand-Japan (TPA) President Prayoon Shiowattana, took place in May.

Dr. Surin’s lecture provided an overview of Japan-ASEAN relations since the 1960s, demonstrating how Japan has stood at the forefront of cooperation with ASEAN, illustrating their contributions in helping to resolve the Asian financial crisis in the 1990s or the East Timor issue in Indonesia in 1999. Dr. Surin also discussed the continued importance of Japan’s role in regional integration, the strong interest in Japan’s response to TPP negotiations, and the positive outlook of Japan’s tendency toward economic recovery, despite changing global conditions brought about by the rise of China and other factors.
　 Finally, Dr. Surin added that while, in the process of economic development, ASEAN has significantly enhanced industrial production facilities, what the future calls for is the advancement of science technology, and innovation, areas in which he expects Japan will continue to make valuable contributions.

The lecture was followed by a Q&A session and concluded with a lively discussion that reaffirmed Japan-China-Korea-ASEAN relations and emphasized the importance of exchange amongst the younger generation.