Staff writer

In a crusade to liberate the world of academia from the ivory tower, Akihiko Sasaki, a Kyushu college professor, decided he'd try the powers of standup comedy.

Sasaki, 53, a cultural economics professor at Kyushu Kyoritsu University in Kitakyushu, paired up with his master "Local" Oka recently at Tokyo's Shinjuku Suehiro-tei to perform their "Manzai Cultural Economics" routine.