【Reported by Yi-feng Lu, Tamkang Times】In 2012 Tamkang University founded the Japanese Department’s Haruki Murakami Research Room. This year it established Taiwan’s first Haruki Murakami Research Center, holding it’s official opening ceremony on September 22nd. The opening event was hosted by President Flora Chia-I Chang and she invited renowned American Literature translator and former professor of Tokyo University, Motoyuki Shibata, to give a lecture contrasting Haruki Murakami and American Literature.

Director of the Department of Japanese, Chiu-kuei Tseng, pointed out that he had participated in 3 conferences related to Haruki Murakami research and that these meetings should continue to improve the quality of research by branching into academics of different cultures and improving opportunities for more progress. He stated, “I look forward to the time that this academic knowledge will cross over borders into countries all over the world, especially Haruki Murakami literature.