This library, designed as a literary café, will also be dedicated to the study of Japanese and international literature. It contains a replica of the writer’s office and a radio studio.
It is located on the Waseda campus in a building that once housed amphitheaters and was converted by renowned Japanese architect Kengo Kuma.
Dressed casually in a navy blue jacket over a yellow T-shirt and beige pants, the writer, who almost never appears in public, and refused to be filmed, spoke of this place full of memories for him.
He said he was absent from class during student protests in the late 1960s and that he hopes this library will serve as a place of exchange between academia, students and the general public.
“Teachers teach and students receive this education“he declared.” This is important. But I hope in spite of everything that the students feel free to present their own ideas and develop them in concrete projects. “
“Honestly, I would have liked (this building) to be built after my death. Now that it’s finished in life, I’m a little nervous. What if I commit a crime? Would harm“to college, he joked.