UNIQUE Connections
Former Residence of Kafu Nagai
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Photo by permission of current owner |
In 1904, one of Japan’s greatest 10th century novelists came to Kalamazoo, Michigan. Kafu Nagai enrolled in Kalamazoo College to study French. Later, upon returning to Japan, he wrote Amerika Monogatari (American Stories) in which he recounts his days in pastoral Kalamazoo. Donald Keene, distinguished scholar on Japan, labeled the work Nagai’s “first masterpiece.” Nagai was prolific in his writings – novels, essays, poems, plays, diaries – the latter of which became respected historical accounts of pre- and post-war social conditions and public moral values.
While in Kalamazoo he rented a room at what is now 127 Elm Street. Still a private home, the Soga Japan Center of Western Michigan University is petitioning the State Historic Preservation Office in Michigan to nominate the house for the National Register of Historic Places based on Nagai’s residence.