One day, when Calmano was studying theology and philosophy, aiming to become a priest, he decided to transfer his base of studies from Germany to a theology school in Japan.

Why did you decide to change schools? “I had always thought that I would like to work overseas as a missionary. With that being the case, I wanted to go overseas, in other words to Japan, as quickly as I could.” Why did you choose Japan? “The previous president of Nanzan University, Hans-Jürgen Marx, who had been two years my senior at the theology school [now the chair of the Nanzan School Corporation Board of Trustees and principal of Nanzan Primary School] went to Japan as the very first foreign student at Nanzan University. That kind of life appealed to me.” Had you always longed to come to Japan? “No, not all. I had been corresponding with Marx, who was in Japan, but his letters didn’t really mention anything about what the country was like, so when I got here I knew nothing at all about Japan. I just thought that Marx was in Japan, so I should go there too. So, my choice of Japan was quite by chance.”

At any rate, destiny saw him come to Japan, where he entered a language school in order to study Japanese.

What was your first impression of Japan? “I was living in Kamakura in those days, so there was a constant stream of buses loaded with children on school trips. The students who got off these buses all wore the same sort of uniform, all had the same faces, and of course all spoke Japanese, which in those days I couldn’t understand. I thought that they all looked quite serious.” I have heard from many foreigner people that Japanese is a very difficult language to learn… “Yes, it’s very difficult. Japanese grammar is totally different from the languages that I have learned to date. I struggled to learn vocabulary and I really found the large number of kanji an issue.”

Other than his mother tongue of German, Calmano mastered English in just three months, and is proficient in many other languages including French, Latin, Italian, Greek and Hebrew. Despite his linguistic talents, it would seem that learning Japanese was a real struggle. But his efforts paid off, and he now speaks Japanese even better than the locals. He says that there is also one other aspect of his first impression of Japan that etched itself into his memory.

And that is? “The centipedes in my room really surprised me.” Were you battling centipedes everyday? “No, I just watched them quietly. I’m adaptable, so I can adjust to any circumstances. Then again, some people often describe that as my just being obtuse.”