ID :
188586
Tue, 06/14/2011 - 19:12
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/188586
The shortlink copeid
Keene recalls fond memories at farewell event ahead of move to Japan
NEW YORK (Kyodo) - Donald Keene, a prominent Japanese literature scholar who plans to move permanently to Japan, reminisced over his 56-year teaching career at a farewell event Monday, while ''looking forward'' to carving out a new future on the opposite side of the world.
Keene, 88, professor emeritus at Columbia University, first became interested in Japanese literature in his late teens.
''I don't think there's been one day, since I was 18 years old, 19 years old, when I haven't thought about Japan in one way or another,'' Keene told a packed audience at the Japan Society's auditorium, which was filled with friends, fellow academics and fans alike.
Ever modest, the Japan hand also said, ''I didn't think seriously about citizenship until one day it occurred to me that this might be a way of expressing my gratitude to the Japanese for all they've done for me.''
According to the Japan Society, the event was Keene's last public speaking engagement before leaving the United States. He plans to move to Japan in late August, Columbia University sources said.
He is tying up his life in New York after having taught his last Columbia class in April, and once he travels across the Pacific will focus on becoming a permanent Japanese citizen, settling down in Tokyo.
The decision, he said, was spurred on by the killer March 11 earthquake and ensuing tsunami which swept through much of the northeastern part of the country taking more than 15,000 lives and leaving nearly 8,000 others missing.
Asked about reasons behind the Japanese people's perseverance after the disaster, Keene said, ''I really don't understand it myself, but I think it's something ingrained in the Japanese.''
''To think that under absolutely terrible things that were going on that there was no case of looting, no case of wanton destruction, all the things that accompany disasters in other countries were missing. This is phenomenal. It must represent something very deep in the Japanese.''
The event was moderated by Carol Gluck, a professor of history at Columbia University, and a reception was later held in honor of Keene.
Keene, 88, professor emeritus at Columbia University, first became interested in Japanese literature in his late teens.
''I don't think there's been one day, since I was 18 years old, 19 years old, when I haven't thought about Japan in one way or another,'' Keene told a packed audience at the Japan Society's auditorium, which was filled with friends, fellow academics and fans alike.
Ever modest, the Japan hand also said, ''I didn't think seriously about citizenship until one day it occurred to me that this might be a way of expressing my gratitude to the Japanese for all they've done for me.''
According to the Japan Society, the event was Keene's last public speaking engagement before leaving the United States. He plans to move to Japan in late August, Columbia University sources said.
He is tying up his life in New York after having taught his last Columbia class in April, and once he travels across the Pacific will focus on becoming a permanent Japanese citizen, settling down in Tokyo.
The decision, he said, was spurred on by the killer March 11 earthquake and ensuing tsunami which swept through much of the northeastern part of the country taking more than 15,000 lives and leaving nearly 8,000 others missing.
Asked about reasons behind the Japanese people's perseverance after the disaster, Keene said, ''I really don't understand it myself, but I think it's something ingrained in the Japanese.''
''To think that under absolutely terrible things that were going on that there was no case of looting, no case of wanton destruction, all the things that accompany disasters in other countries were missing. This is phenomenal. It must represent something very deep in the Japanese.''
The event was moderated by Carol Gluck, a professor of history at Columbia University, and a reception was later held in honor of Keene.
