Title: Eastern Europe as Inspiration. Abe Kōbō’s Travels to Czechoslovakia and Romania
Abstract: The article explores the importance of the travels of the prominent Japanese writer Abe Kōbō 安部公房, who visited the region of Eastern Europe in early 1956.While he was officially invited to visit Czechoslovakia as the representative of the Shin Nihon Bungakukai 新日本 文学会(New Japanese Literature Association) and the Kokumin Bunka Kaigi 国民文化会 議(National Congress of Culture in Japan), he used the invitation as an opportunity to spend two months in Czechoslovakia and Romania and to familiarise himself with the art of the two countries.The article argues that this experience was crucial in his distancing from the Shin Nihon Bungakukai, as well as from the Japanese Communist Party, which was at the time still closely cooperating with the aforementioned association.Moreover, the study explores the results of his travels, such as the different novels and short stories published after the travels, the writing of which was in some ways inspired by Abe's Eastern European experience.