On October 22nd, at the Kurayoshi City Library, the ceremony to mark the occasion of the 24th Regional Publishers Cultural Achievement Awards was held. This award is sponsored by Tottori Prefecture and was first held in 1987, and is open to regional publishers from throughout Japan. Last year saw the book edited by Professor Iwashita, “Japan’s Borders: How to break the ‘Spell’” (Hokkaido University Publishing), emerge from amongst 650 contenders to claim the prize.

On receiving the award, Professor Iwashita gave a speech with a theme of ‘National borders not believing in nationalism’, and showed part of the ‘Unknown Tales of the Northern Borders: Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands’ DVD to the assembled audience. Over 120 people were introduced to the excitement currently felt in the border research community. Professor Iwashita also announced that the prize money would be split 50/50 between the Etupirka Libraries on Yonaguni and Tsushima.