Eduard Klopfenstein, after graduating from the University of Bern, studied Japanese language and literature at Sophia University in Tokyo and at the University of Kyoto, as a Fellow of Education Ministry. He became a visiting scholar at the University of Kyoto in 1972, and studied the traditional theater, especially Ningyo-Joruri(Bunraku). He experienced research stays in Japan many times, while from 1989 to 2005 he was Professor of Japanology at the University of Zurich. Among his activities, he was a jury member of such translation prizes as the Noma Translation Prize, Japan Foundation Translation Prize, and International Translation Competition in Shizuoka. In April 2010 he was awarded the "Order of the Rising Sun" by the Japanese Government.