Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) awarded a Special Postdoctoral Fellowship (SPD) to Dr Kazuya Onaka.

Dr Kazuya Onaka Born in Tokyo, 1971, graduated from Chiba Prefectural Funabashi High School. Dr Onaka studied at the Waseda graduate school of Political Science, after he graduated from the School of Political Science and Economics. Then he conducted research in France and earned a Ph.D. at the University of Paris 10. Last March he left the graduate school of Political Science (Ph.D. course) at Waseda University. Now he has been conducting research as an SPD student at Hitotsubashi University. Reading and traveling are his hobbies.

The SPD programme was started by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science last year so that the Society may "elect and foster young researchers who are internationally competitive." This programme is a kind of an "individual version" of the Centre of Excellence (COE) programme. This time, in the field of humanities and liberal arts, only two researchers, including Dr Onaka, were selected from all over Japan.

Dr Onaka started to study French when he was a 4th year student of the School of Political Science and Economics. He took a temporary leave from graduate school at Waseda, and studied in France. He entered a higher normal school as a French Government grant holder to study modern French political thought. In 2003, he earned a Ph.D. (philosophy) at the University of Paris 10. He completed a two-volume (600 page) Ph.D. thesis in French. "Language is more important in France than in Japan. I mean that in making an argument to persuade others, you can use more varieties of French words than Japanese." It may be said that the Japanese are unfamiliar with verbal self-expression and debate. But Dr Onaka says with laugh that "I was fine with that. Maybe it is because I am talkative". His friendly and good-humored nature reflects the fact that he enjoys cultural differences.

Dr Onaka specializes in the later years of Louis Althusser, who is distinguished in the field of political thought. "Althusser can be placed between Marxism and postmodern structuralism, so he was influenced by both ideas and his position interested me." Under Balibar, who is a professor emeritus and a favourite disciple of Althusser, he studied "the later life of Altusser that was not fully researched. Picking up the Althusser's later life was a main point. At the gate of a new era, when both Marxism and postmodernism had declined, Althusser, making use of three concepts, space, contingency and metaphor, discusses what logic can be used to describe the change of history. Nowadays, we live in a world where it is difficult to make a historical image on the basis of nation-states. We live in a period when enemies cannot be easily recognized as an object."

"I have done my best to work at the outer limit of my ability." Dr Onaka has an illustrious career, but he has recognized his limit, and at the same time cultivated his abilities, as other people do. "I feel that I am more modest than before, because I have gained confidence." It is certain that his graceful attitude is a product of the unfailing efforts that he has made. It is hoped that he continues to keep challenging his limits as a scholar without losing his informal manner.