Sophia University has a long and amicable relationship with Cambodia originating in professor Yoshiaki Ishizawa's long-term commitment to preserve and restore the Angkor Wat temple complex, a World Heritage site and one of the most important archeological sites in Southeast Asia.
The complex stretches over approximately 400 sq. kilometers in Siem Reap province and consists of as many as 700 remains from the Khmer Empire of the ninth to 14th centuries.
The buildings, monuments and Buddha statues underwent decay as political turmoil, especially since 1970 when a military coup took place followed by four years of Khmer Rouge rule in 1975, engulfed the country.