I attended the 85th Japan Sociological Society Conference held at Sapporo Gakuin University in November 2012 (JSS Annual Meeting in Sapporo). Thankfully, I was selected as one of the winners of the Travel Grant program in its fifth year and presented with fellow professor Yun-Suk Lee at Gender and Sexuality (2) Session. I was very happy to receive helpful comments when I gave a presentation in insufficient Japanese while I was nervous because of the serious atmosphere at the conference. The Japan Sociological Society had a special event with the Korean Sociological Association in the same annual meeting. It was a great honor for me to receive congratulations and encouragement from Japanese and Korean sociologists as a Travel Grant winner in the conference dinner party. After receiving support from JSS as a scholar abroad, having the pleasant experience in academic exchange, I engaged in comparative researches on marriage and family as well as the discrimination and care for the elderly people in Japan and Korea. I was appointed as a board member of the East Asian Sociology Association when it was established in 2019. I am actively working in its Research Network on Family and Gender to strengthen the collaboration of sociologists in this region of the world. I hope that pandemic of COVID-19 be over soon and my suspended sabbatical year in Japan begin, and research exchanges between Korea and Japan will be active. I look forward to presenting again in an annual meeting of the Japan Sociological Society.
