Arisawa Lecture: The Life and Work of Professor Hiromi Arisawa, with Special Reference to his Relationship to Germany

Abstract

Professor Hiromi Arisawa was my father figure in academic life and my mentor on my path through life. I became his student in 1949 and have been his disciple ever since. All my academic work is based on the instruction I received from Professor Arisawa in my student days. It is deeply gratifying for me to speak about the Professor’s life and work, with special emphasis on his relationship to Germany, at this meeting before so many of his old friends. Professor Arisawa was born in 1896 in the city of Kochi on Shikoku and passed away in March 1988 at the age of ninety-two. During the first half of his life he experienced many ups and downs, but the second half was an unbroken success. He served as the President of the Japan Academy for six years after 1980. Throughout his long life, he maintained strong ties to Germany. Professor Arisawa completed his studies in the Department of Economics at Tokyo Imperial University and was then appointed as a research assistant in the area of the theory of political economy. The following year, Professor Emil Lederer arrived in Tokyo as a guest professor at the university. Professor Arisawa served as a research assistant to Professor Lederer, who recommended that his young assistant, who had become a friend as well, should come to study at his own university, in Heidelberg. Professor Lederer accompanied his assistant on a trip to Kyoto and Nara, where Professor Arisawa stayed in a western-style hotel for the first time.