Mechthild Duppel-Takayama holds a master’s degree in German studies and a doctorate in Japanese studies (Ph.D., thesis on Japanese Nobel Prize winner Kawabata Yasunari). Her research focuses on comparative literature and cultural studies. She has been in Tokyo since 1998, initially as a DAAD lecturer at Keio University, where she then served as an Associate Professor at the Institute of German Studies until 2012. From 2012 to 2024, she was a professor in the Department of German Literature at Sophia University and also taught in the Japanology program. Since her retirement, she has been a lecturer at Sophia University. Her publications include works on cultural contact, literary reception, and exile literature.