"It took a total of 39 years before the second book on Japan's foreign policy came out," he said.

Khien wrote the first book on Japan's foreign policy back in 1968 as a young scholar. The new 670-page book explains in detail the evolution of Japan's diplomacy in the post-war period and its relations with various parts of the world. "The Thai people should learn more about Japan and its foreign policy," he said.

The reasons for this are many. Japan is so important to Thailand's economic development, especially as it pertains to the transfer of technical know-how. Assistant Professor Kitti Prasertsuk of Thammasat University was succinct in describing the scale and scope of Japan's investments in Thailand - Japan has been the number one investor in the Kingdom for years - not to mention the huge two-way trade volume between the two countries. As Thailand's largest investor, employing more than 350,000 people, Japan remains the Thai economy's largest benefactor and makes the most important contribution to the country's wellbeing.

Moreover, each year Thailand receives an estimated 1.2 million Japanese tourists who pour millions of dollars into the Thai economy, while at least 70,000 Japanese are long-term residents in the country.

This year both countries are celebrating their 120th year of diplomatic relations with over 100 activities in both countries to strengthen bilateral relations. The commemoration will last until the end of the year.

To mark this special occasion, Thai scholars on East Asia have been lamenting the drop in the number of books and articles related to Japan studies that are being published these days compared to the past. Chaiwat, who simultaneously published two books on Japan last week, said that judging by the number of books published on the topic, Thai people are more interested in rising China. "We have yet to maximise Thai-Japanese relations," he said.

Back in the 1970s, Japanese politics and foreign policy were a cause of tension because of the anti-Japanese sentiment among young students here in Thailand and elsewhere in Southeast Asia. Students took up anti-Japanese protests, which also linked up with demonstrations against the Thanom-Prapas regime.

Now over 30 years have elapsed and interest in Japan has not increased that much. Back then, it used to be Japanese cartoons (manga), pop culture and fashionable products. Now Japan has many competitors, especially from Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan and even China. One thing remains unshakeable however: Japanese comic books continue to dominate among young Thai readers.

There is only a handful of Thai lecturers on Japanese politics, foreign policy and literature, though obviously there are more language instructors. A quick check with the Japan Foundation showed that only around 200 books, journals and reports in vernacular have been published related to Japanese culture, economics, history and politics since the 1970s. But in the past five to 10 years there have been only five to 10 books published about Japan.

While the number of Thai students learning Japanese has increased steadily year by year, the number of those studying the Chinese language has increased rapidly in the past 10 years to well over 350,000. However, there are differences between Japanese and Chinese language education in Thailand.

According to statistics provided by the Japan Information Service, 15,884 students were learning the Japanese language in Thailand in 2003, which placed the country seventh in terms of the number of people studying Japanese in the world. South Korea had the most Japanese language students followed by China, Australia, the United States, Taiwan and Indonesia.

However, the latest figures provided by the Japan Foundation showed that by the end of January, 2007, there will be 67,710 Thai students taking up nihongo (Japanese). Thai students have an extremely high level of competence in the Japanese language, according to Kazuo Shibata, the director of JIS.

Over 10,000 Thai students have passed the test for Japanese as a second language, he said. "Thailand ranks fourth followed by China, Korea and Taiwan," he said. "But Thai students study Japanese without knowing the root words from Chinese characters," he pointed out.

Over half of the students take up Japanese at tertiary levels. Leading state and private universities and major Rajabhat institutes teach the language. The other half comprise high school students and several hundred office workers. There are 274 learning institutes teaching Japanese throughout the country.

By contrast, there are more students learning putonghua (Chinese) in Thailand. The number is at least five times higher than those learning Japanese due to the proliferation of private schools in Bangkok and provincial areas. Of late, those studying Chinese also take lessons in Chinese string instruments such as the qu-jeng and pi-pa, which has not been the case with Japan.

It is interesting to note that there are more Thais teaching Japanese who were trained in Japan than there are Chinese language instructors who were trained in China. Thailand has certified 864 Thai teachers of Japanese.

It is an open secret that Thailand urgently needs more Chinese language instructors but it has been extremely difficult to find local teachers to teach putonghua. At the moment, the Thai government has asked the Chinese government to provide hundreds of language instructors from China. The Education Ministry has also added putonghua as an elective foreign language at the secondary school level.

This is the first article in a series on the 120th anniversary of Thai-Japanese diplomatic relations.

Kavi Chongkittavorn

The Nation