The department of Sinology at Leiden University, Netherlands, did not attract a lot of students in the early 1970s. Perhaps it was the inauspicious surroundings — it was housed in an old lunatic asylum — or the ponderous teaching material, leaden with Chinese propaganda, which professors foisted upon their pupils. Be it as it may, there was little to inspire and even less to retain the interest of a 20 year old who, not sure about his career, had chosen the faculty for no better reason than a professed taste for Chinese food and an awareness that a familiarity with the language might one day "be useful."
A Tokyo Romance: A Memoir, by Ian Buruma.
256 pages