By CHIKA YAMAMOTO/ Staff Writer
April 6, 2024 at 18:27 JST
Tomoko Suzuki with her Ph.D. degree from the University of Tokyo (Chika Yamamoto)
At an age when most people are putting their feet up, Tomoko Suzuki has her face buried in books.
All that reading finally paid off, and this spring she was awarded a Ph.D. in literature from the University of Tokyo, just short of her 70th birthday.
“If you want to learn something, you do not have to start immediately,” Suzuki said. “It’s a matter of what works best for you.”
After graduating from university in 1977, Suzuki began working at a financial institution. As time went by, it began to bother her that colleagues with only a high school diploma but just as competent were paid less.
“The more I received better treatment, the more I began to doubt whether I really did study hard in university,” she said.
Suzuki began thinking about going back to college as she approached the mandatory retirement age of 60.
She already had a research theme in mind, her beloved India, which she first visited in her 30s. All these years later, Suzuki was surprised at how brightly everyone led their lives despite the prevalence of death and poverty.
She made it her goal to get into the University of Tokyo, which is highly regarded for its department of Indian literature and philosophy. To her surprise, she was accepted 10 years ago.
She quit her job and threw herself into her studies, but found it hard to keep up with her fellow students close to 40 years younger than herself.
She became a “professional student,” giving her the time she needed to pore over her books.
When she entered graduate school, she focused on epic poetry written in the 12th century in the Kashmir region of northwestern India.
Although reading was a lifelong hobby, Suzuki began feeling that if she had time to read, she should be devoting more time to her research.
But she never once felt like quitting.
“Anything that is worth doing will involve trying a few times,” she said.
While she will leave the university in April, she plans to continue with her research.
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