Kim Yun-sik（金允植, 1835-1922）visited Japan with Ito Hirobumi（伊藤博文, 1841-1909） as an ambassador to prince Yeongchin（Lee Eun 李垠, 1897-1970）in 1908. On July 29th, he attended a banquet held at Suematsu Kencho’s（末松謙澄, 1855-1920）Shiba Shiroyama Hall（芝城山館）to exchange poems with eminent Japanese figures. In the middle of August, he exchanged poems with Suematsu Kencho and Mori Kainan（森槐南, 1863- 1911）while travelling in the Nikko（日光）and Myogi mountain（妙義山）areas. These poems were compiled as Shibasankan noryo showashu（『芝城山館納涼唱和集』）and Keimyo showashu（『輕妙唱和集』）and published in one volume by Shueisha（秀英舎）. Kim Yun-sik also compiled a collection of poems of that time and named it Tongsa manum（『東槎謾吟』）. Among his poems exchanged with the Japanese figures, there are many poems that have a strong tendency so-called “pro-Japan” that the evaluation of him is on the whole negative. This paper also argues that his poems should be re-evaluated as a sort of diplomatic poetry composed in a place of diplomacy.

In this day and age of multiculturalism, little is still known about the history of Koreans living in Taiwan. By the end of World War II in 1945, there were nearly 2,800 Koreans living in Taiwan. While the majority returned to newly liberated Korea after the war, close to four hundred ethnic Koreans remained in Taiwan and came to be known as hanqiao, or overseas Koreans. Most men from this group found employment with the Taiwanese Fishery Company, which was forced to fill the vacuum left by Japanese employees who were repatriated after the war. Seasoned Korean fishermen assumed high positions as captains and chief engineers with the company, but soon faced economic hardship after gradually being replaced by local Taiwanese. This article looks at their plight as well as others in detailing a social history of ethnic Koreans in postwar Taiwan. It attempts to construct a narrative through the careful reading of archives as well as an oral history collected through personal interviews.One of the highlights of this article depicts a power struggle between Yim Duuk and Lee Sangman over the leadership of a local Korean association. Yim, who had a record of collaborating with Japanese authorities, defeated Lee who was a long-time Korean independence activist sent by the Korean provisional government in China. This article also looks at the struggles local Korean residents went through as well as how theybuilt institutions such as schools and churches to help maintain their Korean identity.

This research report focuses on the philosophy of Nakamura Yujiro, who is one of the prominent philosophers in post-war Japan. His philosophy based on the theory of “common sense” evolved into his broader thinking of the cosmological perspective of the “pan-rhythm” theory and the “oscillation” of the universe. In this report, I will show his unique contribution in the Japanese history of political thought, which consists of the dichotomy between thought for autonomy and for “common sense.” In addition, the post-war history of thought in Japan has been confronted with two questions. One is the problem of how to overcome the closed vernacularity of Japanese culture, and the other is the problem of how to recalibrate the European way of knowledge based on rationality. The thought for autonomy is said to have an affinity with the problem of the former, and the thought for “common sense” is closely linked with the latter problem. The hypothesis of my study is that Nakamura’s philosophy based on the “common sense” theory suggests the possibility of overcoming both problems comprehensively, because of his viewpoint of the cosmological self-awareness as this report conceptualizes, which is introduced through his focus on the transgressiverelationships between Japanese culture and Asian cultures.

Tea is the world’s most consumed drink after water, and thus Asia, where tea drinking has become an inseparable part of the daily lives of Asian people, has become the largest consumer of tea. Asia is not only the largest consumer but also the biggest producer of tea in the world, with China and India being known as the biggest tea growers, as well as being producers of high quality teas. The continuous increase in climate change occurrences will directly affect the tea production quantity as well as altering the quality characteristics of the tea products. Because of the unique climate, soil, topography, cultivars, as well as the practices of the local tea cultivation processes, the tea products which are cultivated in Nuwara Eliya and Uji possess high-quality characteristics in the flavor, aroma and color. Utilizing the Terroir framework, the relationship between the climate, soil, topography, cultivar factors and the local cultivation processes can be further analyzed to understand how these influence the quality characteristic of the tea products. Through the Terroir framework not only a comprehensive climate change adaptation approach can be constructed, but also the available terroir information will help the general public to understand more about their tea preferences in relation to each of the tea growing regions.

There are two purposes of my research; firstly, to verify the nuclear weapons made under the Kim Jong Un regime and evaluate the regime’s survivability in terms of nuclear deterrence theory; secondly to assess the DPRK’s advanced nuclear weapons’ influence on the credibility of the US extended deterrence for Japan and the RoK from the perspective of nuclear deterrence theory. This verification process consists of three stages. First, since a new security environment has emerged due to North Korea’s development of nuclear weapons capable of delivering H-bombs to US metropolitan cities, such as Washington D.C. and NYC, that can break through Missile Defense (MD), this research will review the development of its advanced nuclear weapons by both qualitative and quantitative methods by examining how the Kim Jong Un regime made the decision to accelerate its nuclear development and then put it into practice. Next, it will theoretically analyze its influences on the US extended deterrent, especially focusing on MD, for Japan and South Korea, while contemplating the clearly changing security environment that has been observed nowadays. Finally, it will aim to reform nuclear deterrence theory that does not seem to fully explain the extremely asymmetric deterrence relationship between the US and North Korea, and to consider the possible strategic alternatives for Japan and South Korea when it comes to the US extended deterrent whosecredibility has been decreased in terms of nuclear deterrence theory.

The Arabic word Waqf, or its plural form, Awqāf, which refers to Islamic endowment, stands for one of the most famous forms of philanthropy in Islamic law. It has been playing a very significant role, especially in the early days of Islamic history, not only in the religious sphere but also in the arena of social wellbeing. However, it lost significance under colonialist rule among other factors, only to come back again since the recent revitalization of Islamic economics represented by the birth of Islamic banks in the 1970’s. Since then a comprehensive wave of reform and revitalization has started in all elements of Islamic economics and finance including the Waqf sector.Exploring the features of Waqf revitalization movements mentioned above, especially in Southeast Asia which started this revitalization actively with the turn of the twenty-first century, is the purpose of this research project. In this report I am giving an overview of the process of this research achieved until now and its prospects.As a more productive and efficient Waqf relies first and foremost on compliance with the existing legislation, the main focus of this research is the legal theoretical base of Waqf development and revitalization. In this regard and beside exploring the early Islamic laws recourses and trying to utilize them, this research tries to implicate the Nuẓum Islāmīya concept in a broader understanding of the Waqf regulations and studies field. Moreover, this research tries to utilize some of the conceptional thoughts of recent Islamic economics theorists such as Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr’ s conceptualization of the ownership classification and import them into the Waqflegislations.On the practical side, some contemporary Waqf cases in Pakistan, Malaysia, and Indonesia have been investigated and reported in the process of this research. Furthermore, in the next stages this research anticipates gathering more cases especially from the Arab world in order to get a wider perspective about Waqf revitalization in today’s Islamic world, its founding theoretical Islamic laws and its mechanism（uṣūl al-fiqh）. The methodology used in this research aims to open a newhorizon in Islamic economics generally and in Waqf studies in particular.

Since the elections in 2017, Jordan has set about introducing a new administrative system based on the Decentralization Law in 2015. This brief report examines the process of implementing this new administrative system in Jordan, focusing on its two prominent features: relations between elected members of councils both at the center and local level, and the influence of foreign aid projects over the administrative reform. Based on the fieldwork conducted from June to October 2019 in Jordan, this report highlights the resilience of the authoritarian rule in Jordan, as well as the challenges it is facing. The regime has succeeded in manipulating the institutional setting of decentralization reforms to serve the status quo at the regime center, but the emerging conflict between parliamentary deputies and local council members will give rise to dissatisfaction among the politicians, as well as among the citizens. In addition, the heavy dependence on foreign aid in implementing decentralization raises serious questions about the sustainability of the march of local administration reforms. The way that the Jordanian regime addresses these challenges that occur in the process of decentralization will determine the future of the decentralization reform, and possibly, of the regime’s survival.