From Japan, for love

All the way from Tokyo to the Doon valley in Uttar Pradesh. Norio Okaguchi has come a long way, indeed.

And all for the love of literature. Punjabi literature, in fact.

Okaguchi, you might have guessed, is a scholar. And -- as far as Punjabi language goes -- can probably out-speak and out-write most natives. Now, here at the Dr Balbir Singh Sahitya Kendra, Okaguchi is busy compiling a concise Punjabi-Japanese dictionary. His first book, a learn-Punjabi-through-Japanese guide titled Express Punjabi,with details about grammar and phonetics, had been a big success back home.

Fortyfour year-old Norio, perfectly at home among Punjabi scholars at a literary gathering in Doon, said his present project was being carried out under an academic agreement between the Central Institute of Indian Languages and the Tokyo university.

He had first come to India in 1975 as a tourist. In 1977, when he was at Tokyo university, he returned to do a comparative study of religions. But It was in 1983, after he came in contact with several Punjabi scholars in Patiala, that his love for the Punjabi language started. Since then he had been relentlessly pursuing it.

''The rich library at the Dr Balbir Singh Sahitya Kendra has enabled me to acquaint myself with the works of great writers down the ages, enlarging my perception of the language," Norio said in fluent Punjabi.

Based on the great Punjabi saint-writer Bhai Vir Singh work Sundari, the Japanese researcher has written a book -- Concept of the Khalsa in Sundari. Besides this, he has translated several short stories into Japanese, and plans to introduce the whole of Vir Singh's work to his native language.

Okaguchi's wife, Yoshika, who spent many years in India, is currently working as a Hindi broadcaster in Radio Japan.