Hans-Joachim Knaup - Retiring in AY2017

I first visited Japan in 1973. During my stay of several months, I became interested in the sound and diverse expressions of the Japanese language, which led me to decide to major in Japanese at university. At the University of Würzburg and the University of Bonn, I was able to study Japanese intensively as a language and also research Japanese history and culture under excellent teachers. In the year I graduated from the University of Bonn, I was able to work as a part-time lecturer at Keio University. Since then, I have been able to deepen my interactions with a great many faculty members at Keio University. This has become a great asset to me. Shortly after coming to Japan, I was fortunate enough to be involved in the creation of Professor Robert Schinzinger's Japanese-German dictionary. Through this compilation work, I experienced both the joy and the difficulty of translation.

The time I spent with students in my independent study classes is an unforgettable memory. Since the independent study class is open to students from all faculties, when we took up the theme of "Sound, Language, Music—The Possibilities of Sound Memory and Reproduction," for example, students interested in "sound" gathered, and we tried to collect "sounds" while walking around the Hiyoshi Campus together. Also, when we dealt with onomatopoeia and mimetic words, international students from China and Korea participated, and we were able to have lively discussions. During the summer vacation, we interviewed international students on campus and tourists in places like Asakusa. We then brought together this research material to conduct an international comparison of onomatopoeia and mimetic words, and I also had the students learn effective presentation methods. In my independent study classes, I also covered themes such as "The Archaeology of Media—Old Media vs. New Media," "A Comparative Cultural Study of Commercials—Considering Advertising Strategies," and "Radio Broadcasting in the Weimar Era—The Phenomenon of Information Acceleration by Media." The encounters and collaborative work with students on each occasion have also become my assets.

In my German classes, too, I have fond memories of having students think of various ideas and experimenting together to help them learn verb endings and personal inflections while moving their bodies. I had groups collaborate to create sketches and conversations based on parodies of university life, which they then turned into short skits and recorded to make small radio-drama-like pieces. I was happy that I could draw on my own long experience in program creation and broadcasting for NHK's international service to give students this kind of production experience.

Furthermore, based on this experience of creating programs for international broadcasting, I launched a small TV studio-style experimental workshop at Hiyoshi with students who had returned from abroad and those who already had German language proficiency. There, we conducted fictional interviews with great historical figures such as Goethe, Wagner, Einstein, and Kafka. Although this project was extracurricular, I was delighted that some of the students who were taking my classes became interested and participated voluntarily. Within the framework of German language classes, I have strived not only to correct grammatical and expressive errors but also to provide a place for creative learning and learning to think with a sense of humor. I am grateful that this would not have been possible without the presence of students with diverse talents.

It was also a pleasure to be able to assist, in various ways, many undergraduate and graduate students wishing to study abroad so that they could do so in a favorable environment. The time spent on campus or in coffee shops, offering individual consultations and pondering various options to find the best path together, was also an opportunity for me to recall my own student days when I was exploring the possibility of studying in Japan.

(Interview conducted in February 2018)