Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on March 2010

Expats often complain that they’re not treated fairly by the locals. But sometimes, it must be admitted, we bring it on ourselves. Case in point: Anilir Serkan, a 36-year-old Turkey native who was recently given the boot as a University of Tokyo architecture professor when it was discovered that he had plagiarized large portions of his PhD dissertation. This is the first time in the 133-year history of the university that a scholar’s doctorate has been revoked, and a special investigative committee has been charged with looking into the incident more fully. Doubts are also being cast on other aspects of Serkan’s background—he has referred to himself as the “first Turkish astronaut candidate to undergo training at NASA”—and Chuo Koronsha publishing company has ceased publication of his book Poketto no Naka no Uchu (“Space in Your Pocket”). Fallout has spread all the way to the Mukai Chiaki Children’s Science Museum in Gunma, which had been screening Uchu Elevator, an educational film in which Serkan appears. The museum, while at first stating that it would continue to show the movie, has since replaced it with a film about dinosaurs.

Sources: The Mainichi Daily News and The Yomiuri Shimbun