The International symposium on the 2nd Asian Federation of Mediterranean Studies Institutes (AFOMEDI) was held

Date : 9:00-18:25, on 23 Decemeber 2018

Venue : Inamori Foundation Memorial Hall, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences Campus, Kyoto University

Language: English

Program :

10:00-12:00  SESSION 1 “HISTORY AND PROSPECTUS OF THE MEDITERRANEAN STUDIES”

TAKAYAMA Hiroshi (Tokyo University) “Mediterranean Studies in Japan and My Research Focus”

 

CHOI Choon-Sik (Busan University of Foreign Studies) “Discourses on Mediterranean Studies in Korea”

Elena AVRAMIDOU (Peking University) “From the Mediterranean to Asia: Cultural Interaction and Buddhist Iconography”

Gen “Toby” LIANG (The Institute of History and Philology of Academia Sinica) “Migrations and Transmissions: Mediterranean Studies and East Asia”

 

12:00-12:30 “CORE TIME OF THE POSTER SESSION”

TONAGA Yasushi (Kyoto University) “The Choice of Languages in the Ottoman Sufism”

FUJII Chiaki (Kyoto University) “Positive Aspects of the Existence of Spirits: Case Studies on the East African Coast”

MATSUDA Kazunori (Kyoto University) “Comparison of the Sources of Urdu Fatwa Collections from the First Half of the 20th Century”

ISHIKAWA Kido (Kyoto University) “Persian Literature and ʿAṭṭār”

YAMAZAKI Satoru “An Esoteric Sect or the Twelvers?: A Question of Identity of Contemporary ‘Alawīs”

MADONO Kotoko (Kyoto University) “The Expanded Circle of Modern Sufis in Turkey”

SUENO Takanori (Kyoto University) “The Meaning of Studying Akbarian Tradition in North and West Africa”

MIZUNO Yuji (Kyoto University) “The Making of “Conservative Turn” in Contemporary Muslim Indonesia: An Institutional Perspective”

TANAHASHI Yukari (Kyoto University) “Muḥammad Sulaymān al-Jazūlī and his Works”

 

14:00-16:00 SIMULTANEOUS SESSION 2 “DEEP INSIGHT AND SOCIAL WELFARE IN THE MEDITERRANEAN WORLD”

OTSUKI Yasuhiro (Hitotsubashi University) “Civil Donations and Christian Philanthropy in the Later Roman Empire: Some Analysis of Justinian Edicts on Donations to the Ecclesiastical Institutions”

KOJIMA Yoshie (Waseda University) “Representations of Sin and Penance in the Romanesque Cathedrals of Italy”

MOZAFARI Mohammad Hassan (Busan University of Foreign Studies) “Exchange of Mystical Thoughts between Persian and Andalusian Scholars”

14:00-16:00 SIMULTANEOUS SESSION 3 “FRICTION AND PEACE IN THE MEDITERRANEAN WORLD”

Byoung Joo HAH (Busan University of Foreign Studies) “Conceptualizing Arab Identity in Area Studies Frame”

Mona Farouk Mohamed AHMED (Busan University of Foreign Studies) “Concepts of Conquest and Occupation: Different Views on Muslim Rule in the Iberian Peninsula”

TOBA Misuzu (Kwansei Gakuin University) “The War of Memories and Pieds-Noirs Diversity: French Cartoonist Jacques Ferrandez

and His Pluralist Vision”

AOYAGI Etsuko (Tsukuba University) “The Coexistence of Islam with Western Europe”

 

16:15-18:15 SESSION 4 “AREA INFORMATICS AND AREA STUDIES”

YAKOU Hisashi (Hokkaido University) “Mediterranean Landscape Reconsidered”

KISHI Toshihiko (Kyoto University) “East Asian Visual Studies in Creating a Digital Database”

YANAGISAWA Masayuki (Kyoto University) “Text Analysis and Visualization of Field Notes Data”

Sang Ho MOON (Busan University of Foreign Studies) “Research Trend Analysis of Area Studies based on Keywords”

 

* This conference was financially supported by The Center for the Promotion of Interdisciplinary Education and Research in Kyoto University (C-PIER), and organized under the auspices of the following institutions:

・Asian Federation of Mediterranean Studies Institutes (AFOMEDI)

・Center for Islamic Area Studies in Kyoto University (KIAS)

・National Institutes for the Humanities (NIHU) Area Studies Project for the Modern Middle East

・Kenan Rifai Center for Sufi Studies (Kyoto University)

December 1-2, 2018 the International Workshop on Chinese Muslims entitled “Redrawing and Straddling Borders: Chinese Muslims in Trans-national Fields and Multi-linguistic Literatures.” was held

Kenan Rifai Center for Sufi Studies, Kyoto University cohosted the International Workshop on Chinese Muslims entitled “Redrawing and Straddling Borders: Chinese Muslims in Trans-national Fields and Multi-linguistic Literatures.”

This workshop was held under the joint auspices of Institute for Research in Humanities, Kyoto University, and Faculty of Global and Regional Studies, Doshisha University, and scheduled as follows.

【Date and Venue】

Date: 1-2 December 2018

Venue: Institute for Research in Humanities Main Building (4F Conference Room), Research Bldg. No. 4, Kyoto University

【Language】 English

【Coordinators】 WANG-KANDA Liulan, Faculty of Global and Regional Studies, Doshisha University NAKANISHI Tatsuya, Institute for Resarch in Humanities, Kyoto University

【Program】

<December 1st> Redrawing Boundaries between “Us” and “Others” Responding to Historical Backgrounds

10:30 -11:00 Registration and Coffee

11:00-11:30 Opening NAKANISHI Tatsuya (Kyoto University) and WANG-KANDA Liulan (Doshisha University) Self-Introduction of Participants [Chinese Muslims’ Identity-Shift Responding to Historical Backgrounds]

11:30-12:30 NAKANISHI Tatsuya (Kyoto University) Family, Umma, and Nation: Multilayered and Dynamic Identities of Chinese Muslims

Lunch12:30-14:00

14:00-15:00 ZHAO Yuanhao 趙元昊 (Institute of Ethnic Literature, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences) Boundaries of Hui: About Wartime Ethnic “Identity” [Religious Boundaries for Chinese Muslims]

15:10-16:10 Aaron GLASSERMAN (Columbia University) Way of Heaven, Way of Man: Boundaries of the Shari’a in Qing and Republican China

16:20-17:20 Suchart SETTHAMALINEE (Payap University) Different Religious Practices and “Others” in Northern Thailand

18:30- Welcome Dinner

<December 2nd>

Straddling Spatial, Cultural, or Ethnic Boundaries

8:30-9:00 Registration and Coffee

[Chinese Muslims’ Bridging a gap between Chinese and Other Cultures]

9:00-10:00 Dror WEIL (Max Planck Institute for the History of Science) Transcending Linguistic Boundaries in Late Imperial China – The Case of Mirṣād al-‘ibād

10:10-11:10 Diana WONG (Universiti Sains Malaysia) Overseas Hui Entrepreneurs and the Globalisation of Qingzhen Ethnic Food: A Case Study of Malaysia

[Chinese Muslims and Other Chinese Minorities]

11:20-12:20 Marie-Paule HILLE (École des hautes études en sciences sociales) Legacy, Sociability, Moving Borders: an Ethnography of Trade Relationship between Chinese Muslims and Tibetans in Amdo

12:20-13:50 Lunch

13:50-14:50 WANG Jianxin 王建新 (Lanzhou University) Similarities and Differences between the Hui and the Uyghur: An Approach toward the Multiculturalism of Muslim Minorities in China

[Chinese Muslim Diaspora]

15:00-16:00 WANG-KANDA Liulan (Doshisha University) Border-crossing, Belonging and Family networks among Chinese Muslim Diaspora in Northern Thailand

16:10-17:10 MA Hailong 馬海龍 (Qinghai Nationalities University) At Home in Diaspora: the Chinese Hui Migrants in Malaysia

17:20-17:50 Concluding Discussion

*This workshop was  financially supported by The Kyoto University Foundation 公益財団法人 京都大学教育研究振興財団 Hashimoto Jun Memorial Foundation 一般財団法人 橋本循記念会 Joint Usage/Research Program of Center for Information Resources of Area Studies (CIRAS), Kyoto University 京都大学東南アジア地域研究研究所30年度共同利用・共同研究拠点プロジェクト Joint Usage/Research Program of Institute for Research in Humanities, Kyoto University 京都大学人文科学研究所平成30年度共同利用・共同研究拠点プロジェクト and officially supported by Kenan Rifai Center for Sufi Studies, Kyoto University 京都大学ケナン・リファーイー・スーフィズム研究センター Center for Islamic Area Studies, Kyoto University (KIAS) 京都大学イスラーム地域研究センター

July 18-20, 2018 KR members made research presentations at WOCMES-5

On July 16th to 20th, Fifth World Congress for Middle Eastern Studies (WOCMES-5) was held in Sevilla, Spain and Senior researchers from our center made research presentations internationally.

July 18th

PA-135. Rethinking the Relationship between Batin and Zahir: From the Perspective of Sufism and Fiqh. Organised by MARUYAMA Daisuke, National Defense Academy of Japan

Speaker Title
MARUYAMA Daisuke The Connotation of Batin and Zahir in the Context of Sufism: A Case Study of Contemporary Sudan
INOUE Kie The Understanding of Zahir in Iranian Sufism

PA-174. Reframing the Past: Gender Questions and Islamic Traditions in the Modern Era. Organized by GOTO Emi, the University of Tokyo

Speaker Title
TAKAHASHI Kei Between Norm and Practice: Neo-Traditionalist Discourses on Gender in the United States
SAWAI Makoto The Disappearance between Man and Woman: The Sufi View on Human Existence
SAWAI Makoto

PA-187.Religious Practices Using Commodities in Consumer Societies. Organized by FUTATSUYAMA Tatsuro, St. Agnes’ University

Speaker Title
FUTATSUYAMA Tatsuro Qur’anic Commodities in Ordinary Muslims’ Space: Focusing on Interior Ornaments and Calenders in Tunisia’
KOMAKI Sachiyo The Cult of Islamic Relics and the Religious Goods in Contemporary India
FUTATSUYAMA Tatsuro KOMAKI Sachiyo

July 19th

PA-241. Visits to Saintly Places in the Age of Globalization. Organized by AKAHORI Masayuki, Sophia University

Speaker Title
TONAGA Yasushi Theoretical Basis for the Visit to the Saints’ Places in the Islamic Thought
YASUDA Shin Remembrance at Holy Places: Religious Capital and Shi’ite Religious Places in Syria in the Era of Crisis
TONAGA Yasushi YASUDA Shin

July 20th

PA-339. A Reconsideration of Public Spheres from a Grass-root Perspective– Historical and Contemporary Approaches. Organized by IWASAKI Erina, Sophia University

Speaker Title
KISAICHI Masatoshi The Zawiya as an Ahylum in Medieval Magherb – A Reconsideration of the Public Sphere within an Islamic
KISAICHI Masatoshi

 

February 24, 2018 KIAS-IMS Seventh Joint Seminar “Exploring Culture and Politics in the Mediterranean World” was held

Center for Islamic Area Studies at Kyoto University (KIAS) and Institute for Mediterranean Studies (IMS), Busan University of Foreign Studies co-hosted KIAS-IMS Seventh Joint Seminar “Exploring Culture and Politics in the Mediterranean World” with Graduate School of Asian and African Area Studies (ASAFAS), and Kenan Rifai Center forSufi Studies, Kyoto University as below.

Date:February 24, Saturday, 2018 14:30-18:15
Venue: Conference room (AA447), 4th Floor, Research Bldg. No.2, Kyoto University
Language:English
Programme:

Opening Session (14:30-14:50)
Chair: FUTATSUYAMA Tatsuro (Visiting Associate Professor, Graduate School of Asian and African Area Studies)

TONAGA Yasushi (Director, Center for Islamic Area Studies, Professor, Graduate School of Asian and African Area Studies)
“Welcome Speech”

Yong Soo YOON (Director, Institute for Mediterranean Studies)
“Greeting Speech”

Session 1 (14:50-16:20)
Chair: Byoung Joo HAH (Professor, Institute for Mediterranean Studies, Busan University of Foreign Studies)

YAMAMOTO Naoki (Ph.D. Candidate, Graduate School of Asian and Area Studies)
“Sharia/Haqiqa Dichotomy among Sufis and Kadizadelis during Ottoman Period”

Yong Soo YOON (Director, Institute for Mediterranean Studies) & Jung Ha KIM (Professor, Institute for Mediterranean Studies, Busan University of Foreign Studies)
“Types of Cultural Exchange in the Mediterraneanistic Multiculturalism”

Session 2 (16:30-18:00)
Chair: Choonsik CHOI (Professor, Institute for Mediterranean Studies, Busan University of Foreign Studies)

Ji Hun KANG (Research Professor, Institute for Mediterranean Studies, Busan University of Foreign Studies)
“A Study on Information Technology Utilization for Education of Overseas Area Culture”

OKABE Yuki (Graduate Student, Graduate School of Asian and Area Studies)
“Reconsidering Power Sharing Regimes and Civil Wars in Lebanon and Syria”

Sang Ho MOON (Professor, Dept. of Computer Engineering, Busan University of Foreign Studies) & Dong Yeol LEE (Research Professor, Institute for Mediterranean Studies, Busan University of Foreign Studies)
“GIS based Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Analysis”

Closing Session (18:00-18:15)
Chair: TONAGA Yasushi (Director, Center for Islamic Area Studies, Professor, Graduate School of Asian and African Area Studies)

KOSUGI Yasushi (Director, Hadhari Center for Islamic Civilizational Studies, Kyoto University; Professor, Graduate School of Asian and African Area Studies)
“Closing Remarks”

Organizers
Center for Islamic Area Studies at Kyoto University(KIAS)
Graduate School of Asian and African Area Studies (ASAFAS), Kyoto University
Kenan Rifai Center forSufi Studies, Kyoto University
Institute for Mediterranean Studies (IMS), Busan University of Foreign Studies

 

January 21-22, 2018 SIAS/KIAS-CNRS Joint Seminar was held

Kenan Rifai Center for Sufi Studies, Kyoto University co-hosted SIAS/KIAS-CNRS Joint Seminar 2018 “Holy Relics and Religious Commodities in Islam + Other Related Subjects” with Center for Islamic Area Studies at Kyoto University (KIAS)and Center for Islamic Studies at Sophia University(SIAS)as below.

Date: January 21-22, 2018
Venue: Toyo University Atami Training Center

 

Programme:
January 21: 13:00-18:00
(13:00-13:15) Opening Remarks: TONAGA Yasushi (KIAS, Kyoto University)

Part 1: Holy Relics and Religious Commodities in Islam + Related Subjects

(13:15-13:50) Pierre-Jean LUIZARD (EPHE-CNRS GSRL)
“Damascus and Cairo: Two Heads of Hussein for Two Kinds of Worship”

(13:50-14:15) KONDO Fumiya (Ph.D. student, SGPAS, Sophia University)
“Mawlid Dolls of Egypt in Terms of “Religious Commodities”: A Preliminary Study”

(14:15-14:50) Thierry ZARCONE (EPHE-CNRS GSRL)
“Qadamgah and Mausoleums Associated with Relics of Imam Ali ibn Abu Talib in the Indo-Turko-Persian Area”

(15:00-15:35) NINOMIYA Ayako (Aoyama Gakuin University)
“Qadam-i Sharif, Mecca and Delhi: Story of a Sufi and Footprints of the Prophet Muhammad in Medieval India”

(15:35-16:10) Alexandre PAPAS (CNRS-CETOBAC)
“Kashkul: Practical Uses and Doctrinal Meanings of a Sufi Relic”

(16:10-16:45) TAKAHASHI Kei (JSPS Research Fellow-RPD)
“Sufism without Tariqa: The Emergence of Muslim Third Places in the Contemporary American Muslim Community”

Part 2: Graduate Student Presentations 1

(17:00-17:30) ISHIKAWA Kido (Ph.D. student, ASAFAS, Kyoto University)
“The Mode of Expression of the Love in the Works of Baba Tahir”

(17:30-18:00) SUENO Takanori (Ph.D. student, ASAFAS, Kyoto University)
“Ibrahim Niyas’s on Sufism: From a Perspective as a Shari‘a Oriented Sufi”

January 22: 9:00-12:00
Part 3: Graduate Student Presentations 2

(9:00-9:30) YAMAZAKI Satoru (Ph.D. student, ASAFAS, Kyoto University)
“Syrian Civil War, Sectarianism, and the Turkish Arab `Alawis’ Struggle for Recognition”

(9:30-10:00) Kamnoush KHOSROVANI (Ph.D. student, EPHE-CNRS GSRL)
“On the Path of an Exuberant Sufi Practice: An Anthropological Study of the Contemporary Female Qaderi Groups in Tehran”

Part 4: Holy Relics and Religious Commodities in Islam + Related Subjects 2

(10:10-10:45) FUTATSUYAMA Tatsuro (Research Associate of the NIHU/KIAS, Kyoto University)
“Qur’anic Interior Ornaments in Ordinary Muslims’ Space: From the Case of South Tunisia”

(10:45-11:20) YASUDA Shin (Teikyo University)
“Commodifying Religious Experiences: Islamic Tour Operators and Religious Markets in Indonesia”

(11:20-11:50) General Comments: Pierre-Jean LUIZARD, Alexandre PAPAS, and Thierry ZARCONE

(11:50-12:00) Closing Remarks: AKAHORI Masayuki (SIAS, Sophia University)

Organizers:
Thierry ZARCONE, TONAGA Yasushi, MISAWA Nobuo (Faculty of Social Sciences, Toyo University), AKAHORI Masayuki

Sponsoring Institutes and Research Projects:
Kenan Rifai Center for Sufi Studies, Kyoto University
Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique Groupe Societes, Religions, Laicites
Center for Islamic Area Studies at Kyoto University(KIAS)
Center for Islamic Studies at Sophia University (SIAS)
NIHU Area Studies Project for the Modern Middle East
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A), JSPS Program “Structural Comprehension of Islamic Mysticism: Investigation into Sufism, Tariqa, Saint Cults Complex”
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B), JSPS Program “Anthropological Studies on Veneration of Saints and Relics in the Mediterranean World”
Sophia University Special Grant for Academic Research Program (Research in Priority Areas) “Comparative Area Studies on Conflicts, Interactions, and Reconciliations between Islam and Other Religions Including Christianity”

Abbreviation:
NIHU=National Institute of Humanities
ASAFAS=Graduate School of Asian and African Area Studies, Kyoto University
SGPAS=Sophia Graduate Program for Area Studies, Graduate School of Global Studies, Sophia University

 

May 20-21, 2017: The center held the first international symposium

The Kenan Rifai Center for Sufi Studies, Kyoto University held the first international symposium “Islamic Studies and the Study of Sufism in Academia: Rethinking Methodologies”at Main Conference Room, 3rd floor, Inamori Memorial Foundation Building, Kyoto University.

The center invited 35 leading researchers as speakers who specialize in various regions and areas from Turkey, USA, China and Japan, and the researchers made presentations on Islamic Studies and the study of Sufism. Moreover, fruitful discussions with young researchers were carried out.

Over two days, about 120 people participated in the symposium and Turkish Ambassador Ahmet Bülent MERİÇ also visited. The symposium was broadcast live through You Tube and most advanced studies of Sufism, Saint Cult, and Tariqa were presented worldwide.

In addition, books on Studies of Sufism, Saint cult Tariqa in Japan, Quran translated into Japanese, and Japan-Turkey related documents were exhibited and attracted many of the participants.

Date: May 20th-21st,2017
Venue: Main Conference Room, 3rd Floor,Kyoto Unversity Inamori Foundation Memorial Hall
Program:

May 20th
Opening Session:
KOSUGI Yasushi (Former Dean of ASAFAS and Director of the Center for Hadhari Islamic Civilizational Studies at Kyoto University)
TONAGA Yasushi (Director of the Kenan Rifai Center for Sufi Studies, Kyoto University)
Cemalnur SARGUT (Founder of Kerim Foundation, Advisor to Üsküdar University Chancellor and Director of TÜRKKAD İstanbul Branch)
Mehmet KÖSE (President of Turkish Republic Prime Ministry the Presidency for Turks Abroad and Related Communities)
A. Bülent MERİÇ (Turkish Ambassador)
 
Keynote Speech I: TONAGA Yasushi, KOSUGI Yasushi (15 min. each)
Keynote Speech II: TU Weiming and Mahmud Erol KILIÇ (20 min. each)
 
Session 1
1. Carl ERNST [chair] “Orientalist Legacies and the Academic Construction of Sufism”
2. MURATA Sachiko “Sufism in Chinese”
3. Osman Nuri KÜÇÜK “The Epistemological Problem of the Contemporary Islamic Thought: Loosing Hikma (Wisdom)”
4. TONAGA Yasushi “General Tendency of Islamic and Sufi Studies in Japan”
 
Session 2
1. Omid SAFI [chair] “Mawlana, Mevlana, Rumi”
2. TAKAO Ken’ichiro “Sufism under Syrian Ba‘th: Ahmad Kuftaru
and His Tariqah”
3. Bruce LAWRENCE “Is adab axial or incremental to madhhab-iʻishq (Sufism)?”
4. William CHITTICK “Moses in the Religion of Love”
 
Closing Conference of the Project of the Bridge of Two Easts Education Program for Sufi Culture
Cangüzel Güner Zülfikar [chair] (20min.) “Searching New Horizons in Methodology of Sufi Studies”
Participants of the Program (15 min. each):
1. Kotoko MADONO
2. Qayyim Mashuk Naoki YAMAMOTO
3. Kie INOUE
4. Kazunori MATSUDA
5. Makoto SAWAI
 
May 21st
Session 3
1. NAKANISHI Tatsuya “Ma Dexin and Ibn ‘Arabī’s Theories Regarding the Afterlife: A Chinese
Expression of Sufism during the 19th Century”
2. Ahmet Murat ÖZEL “Reading the History of Sufism from the View of the Classification of ʻIlms [Science]”
3. Juliane HAMMER “Studying American Sufism: A Reflection on Boundaries, Authenticity, and Politics”
4. James MORRIS [chair] “Teaching “Sufi” Studies in Undergraduate Settings: Religious Studies and the Liberal Arts”
 
Session 4
1. MORIMOTO Kazuo [chair] “Sayyido-Sharifology Twelve Years Later”
2. TAKAHASHI Kei “The Institutional Origin of the Ulama-Sufi Dichotomy in Modern Egypt”
3. NINOMIYA Ayako “Concepts of affiliation and membership of Tariqa: Medieval India’s case”
4. OGURA Satoshi “Indic Deities translated by means of the oneness of existence: in the case of Muḥammad Šāhābādī’s Persian translation of the Rājataraṅgiṇīs”
 
Session 5
1. MARUYAMA Daisuke “Mystic, Miracle, and Mediation: The Interpretation of the Relation between Allah
and People in Contemporary Sudanese Sufi Tariqas”
2. YASUDA Shin “Islamic Hospitality in Adab Literature (temporary)”
3. ARAI Kazuhiro [chair] “Saint Veneration in Indonesia and the Emergence of Hadrami Sada: Shaping Historical Perception by Using the Current Situation?”
4. WAZAKI Seika “Searching for “our Islam”: Sufism, tariqa and the government policies towards Islam in post-Soviet Central Asia”
 
Session 6
1. miriam cooke “Framing the Lives of Female Sufi Saints”
2. YAMANE So “Dual Trends of Sufi Poetry in South Asia”
3. Emine YENITERZI “Significance of Literature in Sufi Education”
4. Cemil AYDIN [chair] “Islamic Studies, Geopolitics, and Racialization of Muslims: Lessons from the 20th Century”
 
Concluding Session
Cemâlnur SARGUT [chair]
TONAGA Yasushi
AKAHORI Masayuki
William CHITTICK
Carl ERNST
Mahmud Erol KILIÇ

May 20-21, 2017: Hosting the Kyoto Sufism Symposium

The Center will host an international symposium on research into Sufism from May 20 to 21, 2017.

The title of the symposium will be: “The First International Symposium of the Kenan Rifai Center for Sufi Studies, Kyoto University: “Islamic Studies and the Study of Sufism in Academia: Rethinking Methodologies” Including the Closing Session of the Education Programme for Sufi Culture “The Bridge of Two Easts.””

It will be held on the 3rd floor of the Kyoto University Inamori Foundation Memorial Building.
(http://www.kyoto-u.ac.jp/en/access/yoshida/pharmaceutical.html: Building No. 37)

Click here for details → http://kerimvakfi.org/live-broadcast/

October 24-25, 2016: A symposium to celebrate the Center was held at Üsküdar University, Istanbul.

A symposium to celebrate the Center was held at Üsküdar University, Istanbul. This was the start of “The Bridge of Two Easts: Education Program for Sufi Culture,” a Sufi education project that will continue into the following year. Presentations were given from the Japanese side by Yasushi Tonaga, Director of the Kenan Rifai Center; Masayuki Akahori, Professor at Sophia University; and Maruyama Daisuke, Associate Professor at the National Defense Academy of Japan.

http://tasavvuf.uskudar.edu.tr/en/project/67/the-bridge-of-two-easts-sufi-culture-education-program-project
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OK9gn3NAv6U

The symposium also appeared in Turkish news

https://www.dailysabah.com/life/2016/10/25/turkey-japan-to-join-hands-for-sufism-project-1477334042