Terukazu Suruga obtained a Ph.D. in economics at Osaka University, Japan. He is now professor emeritus at Kobe University. He has held several visiting positions at institutions including Washington University, Flinders University, Beijing University, the Mongolian Market Research Institute, KIMEP University, and National University of Laos. He has published numerous papers on foreign direct investment (FDI), development economics, and labor economics. He has written Labour and Employment Society in Laos (in Japanese) and has edited Changing Employment Practices and Female Labor Force (in Japanese). Phanhpakit Onphanhdala obtained a Ph.

D. in economics in 2008 from Kobe University, Japan, where he worked during 2008-2011, and at the National University of Laos during 2011-2019. He was the deputy director of the Research Center under the National Institute for Economic Research, Lao PDR, during 2019-2020. Currently, he is a senior economist and independent researcher. His researchinterests include labor market analysis, FDI and trade, agribusiness, logistics, and economic integration.Yuka Kaneko, LL.D., is a professor and the deputy executive director at the Center for Social Systems Innovation, Kobe University, Japan.

She is specialized in Asian comparative law, law and development, law and society, and disaster law. Her edited books include Asian Law in Disasters: Toward a Human-Centered Recovery (Routledge, 2016), Civil Law Reforms in Post-Colonial Asia: Beyond Western Capitalism (Springer, 2019), Land Law and Disputes in Asia: In Search for an Alternative Development (Routledge, 2021), Build Back Better: Issues of Asian Disaster Recovery (Springer, 2021), Insolvency Law Reforms in the ASEAN Emerging Economies: Consequences of the Donor Model Designed for Economic Crises (Springer, 2022) and Reallocation of Social Risks in a Pandemic: Changing Law and Contractual Relations of Asian SMEs under COVID-19 (Springer, 2022). She is a member of the Board ofDirectors of the Japanese Association of Sociology of Law, and also a member of the Editors-in-Chief of the Asian Journal of Law & Society.