Since commencing teaching at Nanzan University as a part-time instructor, to date Calmano has gone on to hold many important positions such as an associate professor in the Faculty of Letters, a professor in the same faculty, a professor in the Faculty of Humanities and chair of the Nanzan Corporation Board of Trustees.

What do you think of your current job?

“Everyday is a lot of fun. I enjoy giving the students a hard time (laughs). I like further enhancing my knowledge and then using it to the students’ advantage.”

Do you have a word or expression that you like? (In response, Calmano showed me the framed image in the photograph on the left.)

“The meaning of ‘Love others as you love yourself’ is expressed concisely, but with impact. This four character expression includes all sorts of meaning, and I like the content and the shape of the characters.”

How do you spend your days off?

“I like listening to classical music and reading books. If I go out I can’t listen to the music I like or read books. I don’t like not being able to do the things I want to do. That keeps me stuck in my own room. I am otaku after all….”

Calmano says that he enjoys books written in German or English, but that he has read many works of Japanese literature. Kawabata Yasunari, Mishima Yukio, Natsume Souseki, Mushakouji Saneatsu, Hori Tatsuo …. It would seem that the “reading-otaku” ways of his childhood are just as strong today.

We heard that Calmano has a rather unusual hobby.

“I like collecting soft toys. They are just so cute!” In fact the day that we carried out this interview, Calmano appeared with a soft toy shaped like a frog. “At most, I would have had 120 in my research office. In fact, I thought that I might have gone overboard, so I gave about 100 of them to students or kindergarten children.”

The remaining 20 soft toys are still there in his office, overseeing the president of the University as he does his work. He says that his favorite one among them is a hand puppet squirrel.

Calmano loves animals, and sometimes takes his seminar students to the aquarium or the zoo. There also happens to be a question proposed by the president of the University about penguins.

“I came across a manga that depicts penguins flying through a sky in a airplane. There is an expression ‘as free as a bird,’ but are birds actually free?” →No, they aren’t free because they compete for food. →So, are flightless birds such as the penguin ‘free’?

What do you think?

Calmano has fulfilled his childhood dream of wanting to become a priest. Now teaching young people at Nanzan University, he leads a fulfilling life both in public and private.

Where do you think you will be in 10 years time? “Probably in Japan. Maybe at Nanzan University.” What is your next goal in life? “To contribute to Nanzan University in some way.” A message to the students… “Find what you really want to study as soon as you can, and from there, work hard to go forward in your chosen path.”

President of Nanzan University, Michael Calmano, loves Nagoya
He mainly gets around by bicycle, including of course commuting to work. If you are out in the streets you might come across him breezing along on his bike.