Furoshiki and "Walking Confusious" | Tomoyuki Kojima (Dean, Faculty of Policy Management)
May 6, 2005
Partly due to my profession and partly because I don't own a car, I always carry a large bag. The bag is considerably overweight, filled with a large number of books, magazines, documents, and a laptop computer. My family, exasperated, tells me, "That's why your bags wear out so quickly," and suggests I use several bags in rotation. Nevertheless, I tend to overuse my favorite bag, and it ends up breaking quickly. It might be more efficient and economical to carry things in a furoshiki or a paper bag instead of a briefcase.
Furoshiki reminds me of Professor Yuji Muramatsu. He always walked around the University of California, Berkeley campus with his documents packed in a furoshiki. American students and professors respectfully called him "Walking Confusious."
Professor Muramatsu was a leading authority on the modern social and economic history of China who later became the president of Hitotsubashi University. While I was studying abroad at Berkeley from 1969 to 1972, he came as a visiting professor and taught modern Chinese economic history. I served as the TA (Teaching Assistant) for his class.
Professor Muramatsu and his wife were very kind to me even after I returned to Japan, but for better or for worse, he had a great influence on my lifestyle. My routine of waking up before 5 a.m. to work, and then going to bed at night without doing much of anything that could be called work, is due to Professor Muramatsu's influence.
His lecture would end at 4:30 p.m., and after answering students' questions, he would be back at his residence, a ten-minute walk away where his wife was waiting, by 5:30 p.m. I would naturally join him, and then, as was often the case, a drinking party would begin. We would start with beer, then move on to a mix of wine and sake, and finish dinner before 9:00 p.m. Then the professor would head to his bedroom with a simple "Well then, everyone, good night." He would wake up at 3:00 a.m. and immerse himself in his research for the entire morning.
Left behind, I would return to the house I shared with my American friends, but I was too drunk to read a book or write a paper. The drinks were exquisite, and his wife's homemade Japanese cooking was delicious; I couldn't give up either. However, at this rate, I couldn't study properly, and the continuation of my scholarship was in jeopardy. So, the conclusion I came to was, "I have no choice but to adopt Professor Muramatsu's habit of going to bed early and waking up early." Ever since then, waking up before 5:00 a.m. has become my routine.
(Posted: 2005/05/06)