Petr Holy was a 16-year-old high school student when he first heard the Japanese language on the radio and television in what was then Czechoslovakia during the final phase of the Cold War.
His interest in Japan grew as he read modern Japanese novels by writers such as Yasunari Kawabata and Yukio Mishima.
Holy's fondness for Japanese affairs developed when he read classic Japanese literature, such as "Makura no Soshi" ("The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon"), written by court lady Sei Shonagon in the Heian Period (794-1185), and "Hojoki" ("An Account of My Hut"), a brief work written in 1212 by the elderly recluse Kamo no Chomei.
In 1990, when he was 18, Holy entered Charles University in Prague, which has one of the largest Japanese studies departments in Central and Eastern Europe.