Mr. Keene's noble decision
(From The Japan Times April 23 issue)

日本文学研究者の気高い決断

Mr. Donald Keene, a prominent scholar of Japanese literature and Columbia University professor, has decided to make Japan his permanent home and has begun the process of becoming a naturalized Japanese citizen, it was reported recently. In an interview with NHK, the 88-year-old Japanologist said that now that Japan has suffered tremendously from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, he would like to express his “faith (shinnen)” in Japan, which he stated he loves. He went on to say, “I married a woman called Japan.”

Mr. Keene has a residence in Tokyo and spends about half a year annually in Japan. His decision to become a Japanese citizen is an expression of the strong solidarity he shares with the Japanese people at a most difficult time — especially with those in northeastern Japan who have lost their loved ones, property or communities in the disasters, and those who are living in the shadow of the nuclear crisis at Tokyo Electric Power Co.‘s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. His decision should give every Japanese citizen a feeling of joy and encouragement, especially because so many foreigners left Japan in the wake of the disasters.

Mr. Keene read The Tale of Genji in translation while at Columbia, studied Japanese in the U.S. Navy and served as an intelligence officer in the Pacific region during World War II. After the war, he studied Japanese literature at Columbia, Harvard, Cambridge and Kyoto universities. Japanese authors he translated include Yoshida Kenko, Matsuo Basho and Yukio Mishima. He also wrote many books, including Chronicles of My Life: An American in the Heart of Japan. He received Japan’s Order of Culture in 2008.

For their part, Japanese should take a cue from Mr. Keene’s love for Japan by developing a greater appreciation of Japanese culture and tradition (without becoming insular), making efforts to protect Japan’s natural environment and building a society in which the socially weak are never abandoned.

日本文学研究者でコロンビア大学教授のドナルド･キーン氏が日本国籍取得と永住の意向を表明した。東日本大震災で苦しんだ日本に対し「信念」を見せたい、「私は『日本』という女性と結婚した｣と述べた。震災後に多くの外国人が日本を去るなか、その決断は国民に喜びと励ましを与える。

学生時代に「源氏物語」の英訳を読み、日本語を学び始めた氏は、日米開戦後は海軍情報士官を務めた。復員後、コロンビア大、ハーバード大、ケンブリッジ大、京都大で日本文学を研究、吉田兼好や松尾芭蕉、三島由紀夫らの作品を翻訳した。著作に「私と20世紀のクロニクル」などがあり、2008年に文化勲章を受章した。

キーン氏の日本への想いにならい、日本人は母国の文化と伝統を大切にし、自然を守り、社会的弱者が見放されない社会を築くべきだ。