CSEAS hosts "Aung San Suu Kyi and Kyoto" public event (18 December 2015)

On 18 December, the Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS) hosted a public event dedicated to Aung San Suu Kyi as part of the Kyoto University ASEAN Week.

Titled "Suu Kyi-san and Kyoto", the event featured a lecture and discussion by two experts: CSEAS's Associate Professor Yoshihiro Nakanishi, who specializes in Burmese politics, and Ms Noriko Otsu, author of Letter for Aung San Suu Kyi . Professor Nakanishi discussed "Ms Suu Kyi and 'Burma' Today", while Ms Otsu, a friend of the Burmese politician for more than 40 years, shared her memories of Ms Suu Kyi as a young woman and her family, recounting episodes that seemed to highlight the personal aspects of the political leader that only a close friend might know about.

The lectures and discussion were followed by tours of the "Aung San Suu Kyi Room" and the CSEAS library. The Suu Kyi Room is a former CSEAS laboratory where Ms Suu Kyi worked as a Visiting Researcher for nine months beginning October 1985, and currently serves as a space for storing materials related to its former occupant. It was established in 1992 to celebrate her receiving the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize and to appeal for an early end to the house arrest she had been placed under by the ruling military regime. Participants were seen studying the items on display intently in the Suu Kyi Room as well as in the CSEAS library, including her publications, materials related to the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, and photographs from her Kyoto days.