— A Touch of Germany —
Prof. Atsushi Haraguchi School of Commerce
West Waseda Campus Building 9

Prof. Haraguchi holding a spoon, fork and shopping bag made of thin nylon, all with the official government price stamped on them. The bags came in a number of cute patterns.

A commuter pass he bought when he was studying abroad. He bought it in mid-month, not knowing he'd be charged for the whole month.

A notebook with the official government price.

The orange cushion blends perfectly with the sofa cover.

It's early afternoon and Professor Haraguchi's soft, melodious voice echoes gently in his office. A retro-style German tablecloth with a floral design serves as a cover for the sofa in front of his bookcase. It goes perfectly with the many books, both Japanese and foreign, crammed into the huge bookshelves lining the wall, creating the elegant atmosphere of a “Professor's Study”.

Prof. Haraguchi's major is German. “I was bad at English when I was in college, and I didn't want to do the same thing as everyone else, so I decided to study German because of its beautiful sound.” While studying at Waseda he also took lessons at a language school. The culture shock he experienced on his first study trip to Germany made him want to learn more about the country and its people.

“I happened to be in Munich when the Berlin Wall came down. On TV an official was saying ‘Entry to the West Side is now permitted.’ I could understand the words but my reaction was ‘Huh?’ We tend to view new things through our own preconceptions.” He showed us a photo of an East German Border Guard and a West German policeman chatting together cheerfully, a scene that would have been inconceivable just a few weeks before. Prof. Haraguchi took the photo himself near a gap in the newly opened wall. He then showed us a small A5 sized notebook. “I bought this notebook at around that time. It wasn't anything special, but now it's become a ‘cultural asset’ .” What's unusual is the price printed on the notebook. At that time, prices were regulated by the government and everything had a price stamped on it. Even the plain spoons and forks he bought then have become valuable historical articles. “It's the ordinary things we use in daily life that tend to disappear so quickly,” he said. That's why he keeps all of these items. His memories cover a period of complex changes in German history.

“For example, this rather kitsch shopping bag may strike young people today as nothing more than ‘fashionable’, but at that time, it was the only kind you could buy. It wasn't for fun.” As he spoke, Prof. Haraguchi's gaze lingered wistfully on the fading photos.