Donald Keene, one of the world's most renowned scholars of Japanese literature, said during an event held in Tokyo on March 20 that he believes that Japan's northeast will recover from the Great East Japan Earthquake and be reborn as a beautiful region.

Keene, who decided to change his nationality from American to Japanese after the disaster hit Japan on March 11 last year, moved permanently from New York to Tokyo in September after finishing his teaching at Columbia University, where he had taught for 56 years.

At the opening of the lecture held at Nihonbashi Muromachi Nomura Building in Tokyo, Kaoru Matsushita, MC of the event, introduced Keene to the audience of 250, who had been selected by lottery from some 1,000 applicants. "As you may all know, Professor Keene has recently become a Japanese citizen," Matsushita said. "The Justice Ministry approved the request and Professor Keene obtained Japanese nationality on March 8."