Introduction

Abstract

This book is the culmination of research carried out at the Afrasian Research Centre at Ryukoku University in Kyoto, the ancient capital of Japan. Ryukoku University was established in 1639 as a Buddhist educational institution by the Nishihongwanji Temple, the head temple of Shin Buddhism, later becoming a university, and is known as one of the oldest tertiary educational institutions in Japan. The Centre was established in 2005 in conjunction with the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan (MEXT) to facilitate a cooperative research body to explore theoretical and pragmatic inquiries into a wide variety of conflicts and confrontations in the Asia-Pacific region. The Centre aims to provide analysis and suggestions for possibilities of conflict resolutions. Research meetings and international symposia were held each year for the past three years to discuss and exchange information about ongoing conflicts caused by the radical changes and expeditious transformations in an increasingly globalizing world. What became ever more clear through our meetings and symposia was the speed of the changes and transitions in the world and the power of liberal discourses of globalization, which eventually resulted in the alteration to the focus of inquiry. The Centre subsequently shifted its focus more to conflict reconciliation and critical engagement with specific attention to the current policies, discourses, issues, and lived experiences of multiculturalism.