Walking Away from the Killing Fields: How Hopeless Boy Became a University Professor In Japan. The author of this memoir gives motivational advice which could be applied in many situations. Born in Cambodia in 1973, Nophea's father and sister perished under the Khmer Rouge regime. He tells of how he struggled to gain an education, and in 2004 with a PhD in forestry became an Associate Professor at the University of Hyogo in Japan. He offers carefully set out advice to those who are trying to achieve in the face of major adversity. This is based on the indomitable determination shown in his own career.