Receiving the Fukuoka Grand Prize has been one of my proudest achievements.  I received the award in 2015, a time when Myanmar was beginning to emerge from decades of armed conflict and military dictatorship and trying hard to rejoin the world. I was trying to do my part to help in different ways:  as an adviser to the president, as part of the government team working on the new peace process, and as the head of two new non-governmental organizations I had founded, the Yangon Heritage Trust and U Thant House.  It was an incredibly exciting as well busy and sometimes frustrating time.  

The award of the Fukuoka Grand Prize, one of the greatest prizes in Asia if not the world, given in the past to so many illustrious people, made me that much more committed to the work I was doing and explore more the links between Myanmar and the rest of Asia.  Since then, I have written a new book: The Hidden History of Burma: Race, Capitalism, and the Crisis of Democracy in the 21st Century.

The Fukuoka Prize also deepened my connection to Japan, a country whose people and culture I have long admired, and established for a new and valued connection to Fukuoka.  I will always cherish the time that I spent in your beautiful and dynamic city.

In this 30th anniversary year, the Fukuoka Prize’s mission to recognize people and organizations creating and preserving Asia’s many and diverse cultures is more important than ever.