Overview of the Award Ceremony for the Eighth Asia Pacific Culture Prize and Iue Asia Pacific Research Prize

The Awards Ceremony for the 8th Iue Asia Pacific Culture Prize and Iue Asia Pacific Research Prize was held on Monday, November 2, 2009 at the Kobe Portopia Hotel.
In the part 1 of the award ceremony, Mr. Satoshi Iue (Representative Director of the Asia Pacific Forum, Awaji Conference Japan and Representative Honorary Member, SANYO Electric Co., Ltd.) presented Mr. Ezra Vogel (the winner of the 8th Iue Asia Pacific Culture Prize) with an award certificate and a prize of five million yen, and Mr. Lee Dong Jun (the winner of the 8th Iue Asia Pacific Research Prize) with an award certificate and a prize of one million yen. The dissertations of Mr. Nobu Iwatani and Ms. Lin Chu-Mei were selected for “Commendation”, and each of them received an award certificate and a commemorative gift.
Following the award presentation, there was an explanation of reasons for the Selection Committees' decision by Mr. Yoneo Ishii (Culture Prize Selection Committee Chair) and Mr. Makoto Iokibe (Research Prize Selection Committee Chair) followed by words of acceptance by the award winners and an introduction to the research projects chosen for the Iue Asia Pacific Research Prize. In the part 2 of the ceremony, Mr. Ezra Vogel (the winner of the 8th Iue Asia Pacific Culture Prize) gave a commemorative lecture on Deng Xiaoping and US-China-Japan relations. This was followed by a commemorative panel discussion under the theme of Japan's Role within Asia in the 21st Century by Mr. Ezra Vogel, Mr. Hitoshi Tanaka (Senior Fellow at the Japan Center for International Exchange and former Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs), and Mr. Makoto Iokibe (President of the National Defense Academy of Japan and Professor Emeritus of Kobe University) under the coordination of Professor Koji Murata, Faculty of Law at Doshisha University.
Approximately 160 visitors including U.S. Consul General to Osaka-Kobe Edward Dong attended the ceremony and earnestly listened to the speeches of the award winners, the commemorative lectures of special guests, and discussions of the participants.