In April, we began the final year of the Islamic Area Studies Project, an exciting time in which research of the past four years will yield its results. We have published two of the planned twelve volumes in the English IAS Series, and are in the process of assembling the rest. Editorial work on the eight Japanese volumes is advancing steadily, with publication scheduled to begin in the autumn of 2003. The editorial policy of each volume has been firmly established, and the contributors have been selected. I believe that both the English and Japanese publications contain rich explorations of comparative methods and different historical approaches, areas that have been important to us from the beginning.

The publications form a valuable record of our years of international collaborative research, and we hope they will provide a firm foundation upon which Islamic researchers will continue to build. In this sense, we do not see the Islamic Area Studies Project as simply coming to an end in its fifth year; rather, we focus on the coming years and plan to continue and develop what we have begun. Certainly, it would be a great pity to end the international collaboration that has meant much to researchers both in Japan and abroad.

Looking back, we can see that with the realization of the IAS Project, Islamic research in Japan took great leaps into the international arena. The project provided a way to connect and deepen the personal networks each researcher had established already, and the English-language IAS website, where papers and announcements were published, played an important part. We must continue to use this significant digital resource to support our research activities.

Islamic research in Japan has been attracting the attention of scholars in Islamic studies around the world because we have demonstrated a new approach to Islamic studies that is different from the approaches in European and in Islamic countries: are we to offer a unique viewpoint, or will globalization establish a common standard of research? The answers are far from clear. We know, however, that in our own country, it is an increasingly important task to deepen the understanding of Islam as a religion and as a civilization. Already, many Muslims from abroad live and work in Japanese society: while cooperation and friendship grow out of this relationship, serious cultural friction will inevitably occur. We have already experienced the recent regrettable incident where a torn volume of the Qurﾕan was found discarded in Toyama. In protest, many Muslims joined the first nationwide meeting of foreign Muslim residents of Japan. As we take a moment to consider our accomplishments in the IAS Project so far, we must gather our energy to take the next step forward.