Seikei University’s Professor Zen Hara holds 4-day online seminar

2023-08-14 • Education

By Department of Japanese Language and Culture

During the second semester of the Fu Jen Catholic University (FJCU) 2022-2023 academic year, from February 20th to 24th, 2023, Professor Zen Hara from Seikei University in Japan was invited to conduct an intensive 4-day seminar online on the works of Haruki Murakami, a globally best-selling author who has been nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature multiple times. Professor Zen Hara selected nine works from Murakami’s oeuvre, including “The Sound of a Train Whistle in the Night,” “On Seeing the 100% Perfect Girl One Beautiful April Morning,” “Sunset in the Mirror,” “The Mirror,” “Spider Monkey at Night,” “Fun-Fun-Fun,” “The 1963/1982 Girl from Ipanema,” “The Secret of the Pasta Factory,” and “The Best Place to Read John Updike.” Through these pieces of flash fiction, the core values of Murakami's literature were discussed. Professor Zen Hara’s seminar was the first time the FJCU Department of Japanese Language and Culture invited a professor from a Japanese university to interpret Murakami’s literature from the perspective of Japanese researchers in an online seminar. During each lecture, Professor Zen Hara posed various questions, allowing the participating teachers and students to engage in lively discussions and vividly experience the charm of Murakami's literature. Participants included teachers and students from the FJCU Japanese department as well as those from the Graduate School of Arts and Letters of Tohoku University in Japan, the Department of Japanese Language and Literature at National Taiwan University, the Department of Japanese at National Chengchi University, the Department of Applied Japanese at Pingtung *University, and the Department of Applied Japanese at Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology, totaling 30 people.



Through this event, the participating Taiwanese and Japanese teachers had the opportunity to exchange research insights and perspectives while at the same time introducing viewpoints of Japanese scholars, inspiring students to engage in cross-border learning. In addition, the initiative aimed to enhance students’ international communication skills, strengthen their problem-solving abilities through interactions with scholars, expand their global outlook, and pave the way for international collaboration between both institutions, promoting future exchanges. To this end, Professor Zen Hara accepted an invitation from the Department to be the keynote speaker at the international academic symposium of the Department of Japanese Literature at Fu Jen Catholic University on September 16, 2023. This symposium, titled “50th Anniversary Academic Forum in Memory of Yasunari Kawabata – ‘Reincarnation’ of Yasunari Kawabata,” continues the international collaboration and initiates future research and educational exchanges between the two institutions.