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I have just come back from Germany. I went Bochum, Bonn, and Frankfurt. The weather was fine, several days of clear skies, but the wind was cold. In the conference, Cross-Cultural Issues in Bioethics: The Example of Human Cloning, I talked about the concept of "the sprout (or bud) of human life" that is found in the Japanese law on human cloning, and this topic seemed to attract the attention of the audience. I am going to revise my paper and send it to them for publication. The conference was very stimulating. I have learned a lot from the discussion.
I gave a lecture at Frankfurt University, my talk was about "painless civilization," but I was not sure if the students had an interest in my talk because my English was not so fluent then, but anyway I believe it was not boring; no students were sleeping(^^). I met Professor Lisette Gebhardt, Japanologist, (Sprach und Kulturwissenschaften, Frunkfurt University), and had a chat about Japanese culture and literature. She had a keen interest in "iyashi (healing)" movement in contemporary Japan. Very interesting. This lecture was set up by Professor Christian Steineck, Bonn University. He is also a Japanologist and a philosopher, now engaged in comparative research on bioethics.
In Bonn, I had a lunch with Professor Dr. Josef Kreiner, Japanologisches Seminar der Universitat Bonn, and Professor Steineck, at a Turkish restaurant near the university. We talked about the possibility of future research. We had delicious white wine.
By the way, the thrid printing of Painless Civilization: A Philosophical Critique of Desire will arrive at bookstores on Dec.17. Good news. Some interviews have been published in magazines. I will write about them shortly.
Photo: "Via"
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