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“Japan has continually been exposed to outside influences”

Prof. Dr. Atsushi Shibasaki, Visiting Professor at the Institute for European Global Studies of the University of Basel. (Picture: University of Basel, Florian Moritz)
Prof. Dr. Atsushi Shibasaki, Visiting Professor at the Institute for European Global Studies of the University of Basel. (Picture: University of Basel, Florian Moritz)

Atsushi Shibasaki is researching cultures and cultural exchange as a visiting professor at the University of Basel’s Institute for European Global Studies. In our interview, he talks about the friendliness of Basel’s inhabitants, parallels between Japan and Switzerland, and the importance of Bob Dylan.

28 May 2018

Prof. Dr. Atsushi Shibasaki, Visiting Professor at the Institute for European Global Studies of the University of Basel. (Picture: University of Basel, Florian Moritz)
Prof. Dr. Atsushi Shibasaki, Visiting Professor at the Institute for European Global Studies of the University of Basel. (Picture: University of Basel, Florian Moritz)

“A culture of living well”

Might there be some parallels with Switzerland in this regard? Life here is extremely comfortable, stress-free, and safe – apart from the high prices, the visiting professor says with a smile. Unlike in Tokyo, he says the people in Basel rarely seem stressed: “They are patient and always seem to have time, despite living in a multicultural city with an extremely dynamic economy.”

Sometimes, you almost get the impression that people here still live in the 20th century, Shibasaki says. This is not meant in a derogatory way – quite the contrary: “It seems to me that the people of Basel have held on to a ‘culture of living well’ by not becoming too infected – yet – by global consumerism or greed for material possessions.”

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