Takekazu Asaka


Takekazu Asaka, born in Tokyo in 1952, is a Japanese linguist and lecturer of Philology at the Tsuda University, Tokyo. He translated the works of Galician authors such as Rosalía de Castro, Ramón Cabanillas and Uxío Novoneyra into Japanese, and published the first Galician grammar book in Japanese. He defines himself as "ambassador of Galician culture in Japan."
He is also responsible for organizing Galician music and poetry festivals in Tokyo, and in other cities, to celebrate Galician Literature Day. Since June 2017, he has been made an academic correspondent of the Royal Galician Academy in recognition of his work.

Career

He visited Galicia for the first time in 1989 while attending the 19th International Congress of Philology and Romance Linguistics, and since he discovered Galician language and Galician culture, and became its great supporter. He is a teacher of Spanish grammar in Tokyo and takes courses in Galician language and culture.
In 2002, he translated Cantares gallegos into Japanese, which was published by DTP Publication.
In 2014, he translated Contos da miña terra into Japanese, which was published by DTP Publishing, with a preface by Marie de Carmen Rios Panisse, and a CD containing the texts in audio version.
In 2017, he published a bilingual edition of Uxío Novoneyra's The Eidos.

Works