Meet Japan's Mr. Rogers of math

Meet Japan's Mr. Rogers of math

From Unpacking Japan by Produced by ZenStudio

March 27, 2026 · 1h 41m

About this episode

Peter Frankl discusses his life as a mathematician in Japan and his work in children's education.

Meet Peter Frankl, a Hungarian mathematician living in Japan. Peter sits down to talk to us about his life and journey to Japan, his NHK series for children, and why he thinks the Japanese have a mathematician's mindset. -- 0:00 Intro 0:44 Meet Peter 5:14 Arriving in Japan in 1982 10:08 Researching in Japan 15:04 Peter's fascination with math 19:51 Japanese people are kind of like mathematicians 29:28 Peter's autobiography 39:37 Peter's NHK show Mathematica 52:07 Being an independent mathematician 57:25 Current work 1:03:09 Working with Japanese mathematicians 1:10:21 Peter's juggling career 1:27:35 Looking back Follow Peter: http://peterfrankl.com/ Follow us: https://unpacking.jp/ https://www.instagram.com/unpacking_japan https://www.tiktok.com/@unpackingjapan https://www.facebook.com/unpackingjapan https://www.youtube.com/@unpackingjapanshorts https://www.x.com/unpacking_japan https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/unpackingjapan Subscribe for more in-depth discussions about life in Japan! Interested in working at a global e-commerce company in Osaka? Our parent company ZenGroup is hiring! To learn more, check out https://careers.zen.group/en/

People in this episode

Guest: Peter Frankl

Topics covered

  • mathematics
  • Japanese culture
  • education
  • personal journey
  • media
  • interview

Keywords

  • mathematician
  • Japan
  • NHK
  • children's education
  • Peter Frankl
  • Mathematica
  • Hungarian mathematician

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: NHK

Books & works: Mathematica

Places: Japan, Hungary

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