Professor Yoneo Ishii
Before turning to an academic career Professor Ishii was a career diplomat with the Japan Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1955 to 1965. He took his LL.D. at Kyoto University, where he was Professor of Southeast Asian History in the Center for Southeast Asian Studies from 1967 to 1990. His last position there was director of the Center. He was then engaged as a professor in the Institute of Asian Cultures, Sophia University, from 1990 to 1997, and was director of the Institute from 1993. He also served concurrently as director of the Center for East Asian Studies for UNESCO in Tokyo. He is currently President of Kanda University of International Studies. His publications include Sangha, State, and Society: Thai Buddhism in History (1986), A Glossarial Index of the Sukhothai Inscriptions (co-authored, 1989), and The Junk Trade from Southeast Asia: Translations from the Tosen Fusetsugaki, 1674-1723 (1998) . He read a paper to the Society in January 1994 on "Ayutthayan-Japanese Relations in the Pre-modern Period: A Bibliographic Reflection", which was published in Vol.10 of the Transactions, 1995.