Koji KAWAMOTO is member of the Japan Academy and Professor Emeritus at The University of Tokyo, where he has taught for 29 years. He was awarded Gold and Silver Star of the Order of the Sacred Treasure in 2013. He is Honorary President of the International Comparative Literature Association and former President of the Japan Comparative Literature Association, as well as academic advisor to Peking Institute for Social Sciences. Kawamoto’s books include Nihon-shiika no dento [The Tradition of Japanese Poetry]（Iwanami-shoten, 1991, which was awarded the Suntory Prize for Arts and Sciences and the Lafcadio Hearn Prize.)
