Episodes 25 and 26: Translating Japanese to English, Parts 1 and 2

This episode page includes resources and bibliography for Translating Japanese to English Part 1 and Part 2. Listen to part 1. Listen to part 2.

Part 1 transcript available. Part 2 transcript available.

How does a book make it from the mind of a Japanese author into the hands of an English-language reader?

In this two-part episode, we’ll tackle the entire process—from book acquisition by a publisher, to pairing a book with a translator, to the actual process of translation. We’ll also talk about some of the ethical issues translation involves, all through the lens of Minae Mizumura’s An I-Novel, translated into English by Juliet Winters Carpenter.

Please note that part one mistakenly claims author Astrid Lindgren and her Pippi Longstocking series are Norwegian. They are Swedish.

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• An I-Novel by Minae Mizumura (translated by Juliet Winters Carpenter)

More Writing by Minae Mizumura:

• Inheritance from Mother (translated by Juliet Winters Carpenter)
• The Fall of Language in the Age of English (translated by Mari Yoshihara and Juliet Winters Carpenter)
• A True Novel (translated by Juliet Winters Carpenter)

Part 1 also mentions:

• The End of August by Yu Miri (translated by Morgan Giles)
• Solo Dance by Li Kotomi (translated by Arthur Reiji Morris)
• Tokyo Ueno Station by Yu Miri (translated by Morgan Giles)

Part 2 also mentions:

• The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa (translated by Louise Heal Kawai)
  • Read my review of The Cat Who Saved Books in Asian Review of Books.
• Hard Boiled Wonderland and The End of the World by Haruki Murakami (translated by Alfred Birnbaum)
• The House of the Lost on the Cape by Sachiko Kashiwaba (translated by Avery Fischer Udagawa)
• Kappa by Ryunosuke Akutagawa (translated by Allison Markin Powell and Lisa Hofmann-Kuroda)
• Penguin Highway by Tomihiko Morimi (translated by Andrew Cunningham)
  • Learn more about Penguin Highway with the RJL blog.
• Rip It Up by Kou Machida (translated by Daniel Joseph)
  • Read my review of Rip It Up in Asian Review of Books.
• Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata (translated by Edward Seidensticker)
• Temple Alley Summer by Sachiko Kashiwaba (translated by Avery Fischer Udagawa)
  • Read my review of Temple Alley Summer in Asian Review of Books.
• There’s No Such Thing as an Easy Job by Kikuko Tsumura (translated by Polly Barton)
  • Read my review of There’s No Such Thing as an Easy Job in Asian Review of Books.
• Twinkle Twinkle by Kaori Ekuni (translated by Emi Shimokawa)
• A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami (translated by Alfred Birnbaum)
• The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami (translated by Jay Rubin)
• The Woman in the Purple Skirt by Natsuko Imamura (translated by Lucy North)
  • Read my review of The Woman in the Purple Skirt in Asian Review of Books.

Find Out More

Author Minae Mizumura’s English-language website.

My review of An I-Novel in Asian Review of Books (2021).

One Bright Book discusses An I-Novel. June 2023 podcast episode, because great minds think alike.

“Does Literature Have to Be Monolingual? Ellen Jones on Minae Mizumura’s An I-Novel and Multilingualism in Translation” at the CUP Blog (2021). This blog post includes a 13-page PDF preview of Carpenter’s translation.

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Juliet Winters Carpenter talks about her career as a literary translator (2021). Video.

The official website of the Inter-University Center for Japanese Language Studies.

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Khairani Barokka’s “The Case Against Italicizing ‘Foreign’ Words at Catapult (2020).

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The Japanese Literature Publishing Project.

Generation TF: Who Is Really Reading Translated Fiction in the UK at The Booker Prizes (2022).

“Which Japanese books Get Left Out of Translation” by Eric Margolis at Unseen Japan (2023). Publishers Weekly’s incomplete statistics lead Margolis to some false conclusions, but this is still a fascinating and informative article. (My apologies to Margolis. In the episode, I believe I have mispronounced his name and put the emphasis on the wrong syllable.)

Korean-to-English translator Anton Hur’s “Pitch Guide for Translators” (2023).

Spanish-to-English translator Sophie Hugh’s “Five Great Tips for Getting Started as a Literary Translator” at the National Centre for Writing (2020).

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The PEN American Translation Committee issued a “Manifesto on Literary Translation” (2023).

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Leo McDonagh on “Translating Gender from Japanese to English” on his blog, 2021.

Lucy North talks about kuriimu pan at Waseda, 2022.

Translator Michael Emmerich on the art of translating at Words without Borders, 2009.

The Translation Chat Podcast, hosted by Jennifer O’Donnell

J-En Translations.com (Jennifer O’Donnell)

• “10 Must Read Japanese to English Literary Translators”
• “Education for Literary Translators”
• “FAQ for Aspiring Japanese to English Media Translators”
• “Why Machine Translating Japanese Media Is a BAD Idea”

Juliet Winters Carpenter talks about collaborating with Minae Mizumura at Society of Writers, Editors, and Translators (2014).

Juliet Winters Carpenter talks about collaborating with Minae Mizumura at The Conversation (2015).

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Seven translators present their versions of the same passage from Minae Mizumura’s A True Novel at SCWBI Japan.

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Lisa Hoffman-Kuroda’s Twitter thread about translation issues (2023).

Anton Hur on “How I Learned the Truth about Young, Open-Minded Readers of Translated Fiction” at The Booker Prizes, 2023.

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Translator Interviews—Emily Balistrieri

Emily Balistrieri at J-En Translations (2019)

Emily Balistrieri and Andrew Cunningham at The Millions (2019)

Emily Balistrieri at NonNative Creative (2019)

Emily Balistrieri at SCWBI Japan (2021)

Emily Balistrieri at Where There’s Ink There’s Paper (2021)

Balistrieri’s Translations

• “20th Century Hotel” by Tomihiko Morimi
  • Read for free via Samovar.
• Kiki’s Delivery Service by Eiko Kadono
  • Read my review in Asian Review of Books.
• The Night Is Short, Walk on Girl by Tomihiko Morimi
  • Learn more with the RJL podcast.
• People Who Talk to Stuffed Animals Are Nice by Ao Omae
• The Refugees’ Daughter by Takuji Ichikawa
• Soul Lanterns by Shaw Kazuki
• The Tatami Galaxy by Tomihiko Morimi
• Tatami Time Machine Blues by Tomihiko Morimi

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Daniel Joseph’s Translations

• “Dancing for the Avatar” by Kou Machida
  • Read for free via Granta.
• Rip It Up by Kou Machida
  • Read my review of Rip It Up in Asian Review of Books.
• featured in Hit Parade of Tears by Izumi Suzuki
  • “After Everything”
  • “The Covenant”
  • “Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise”
  • “The Walker”
    • Read for free via Granta.
  • Learn more about Izumi Suzuki with the RJL podcast.
• featured in Terminal Boredom by Izumi Suzuki
  • “Terminal Boredom”
  • “Women and Women”
  • Read my review of Terminal Boredom in Asian Review of Books.
  • Learn more about Izumi Suzuki with the RJL podcast.

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Translator Interviews—Louise Heal Kawai

Louise Heal Kawai at Savvy Tokyo (2019)

Louise Heal Kawai at Books and Bao (2022)

Louise Heal Kawai at SCWBI Japan (2022)

Kawai’s Translations:

• Building Waves by Taeko Tomioka
• The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa
  • Read my review in Asian Review of Books.
• The Detective Kosuke Kindaichi series by Seishi Yokomizo
  • The Honjin Murders
  • Death on Gokumon Island
• The Island of Expectation by Ito Ogawa
• “Milk” by Tamaki Daido in Inside and Other Short Fiction: Japanese Women by Japanese Women
• Murder in the Crooked House by Soji Shimada
• Ms Ice Sandwich by Mieko Kawakami
• The North Light by Hideo Yokoyama
• A Quiet Place by Seicho Matsumoto
• Seventeen by Hideo Yokoyama
• “Shame” by Mieko Kawakami (co-translated by Hitomi Yoshio)
  • Read for free via Granta.
• Yakuza Moon by Shoko Tendo

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Translator Interviews—Avery Fischer Udagawa

Avery Fischer Udagawa at Borderless (2021)

Avery Fischer Udagawa at Global Literature in Libraries Initiative (2021)

Avery Fischer Udagawa speaks about “The Hidden Art of Literary Translation” at The Hong Kong International Literary Festival (with Mary King Bradley and Jacqueline Leung, 2023)

Udagawa’s Translations:

• The House of the Lost on the Cape by Sachiko Kashiwaba
• “House of Trust” by Sachiko Kashiwaba in Tomo—Friendship through Fiction: An Anthology of Japan Teen Stories
• J-Boys: Kazuo’s World, Tokyo, 1965 by Shogo Oketani
• “Mirror, Mirror” in An Asian Tapestry of Colors
• Temple Alley Summer by Sachiko Kashiwaba

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More Translator Interviews of Interest

Polly Barton at Waseda (2022)

Polly Barton, Daniel Hahn, and Aaron Robertson at The Booker Prizes (2023)

Sam Bett and David Boyd at Asymptote (2020)

Sam Bett and David Boyd at Harvard Review (2021)

Michael Emmerich at Waseda (2022)

Morgan Giles at Books and Bao (2022)

Ted Goossen at Waseda (2021)

Cathy Hirano at BookBlast (2017)

Allison Markin Powell and Lisa Hofmann-Kuroda at Oxford Political Review (2023)

Margaret Mitsutani at Waseda (2021)

Lucy North at Waseda (2022)

Andrew Wong at SCWBI Japan (2020)

Hitomi Yoshio at Waseda (2021)

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Japanese Literature at Facebook

Japanese Literature at Goodreads

Other RJL Episodes of Interest:

• Episode 8: Meiji Literature & Japan’s Most Famous Literary Cat. Minae Mizumura’s 1st published novel finishes Natsume Soseki’s I Am a Cat.
• Episode 11: The I-Novel, Osamu Dazai, and No Longer Human. This episode covers the I novel genre in depth.
• Episode 16: Writing about Japan’s “Have-Nots”. Yu Miri is a rare Zainichi author available in English translation.
• Episode 17: The Smile of the Mountain Witch. Rebecca Copeland is a prominent academic and translator. She translated “The Smile of the Mountain Witch”.
• Episode 20: The Akutagawa Prize and Kobo Abe. Juliet Winters Carpenter has translated several of Kobo Abe’s novels.

Sources:

Allen, Esther and Susan Bernofsky, eds. In Translation: Translators on Their Work and What It Means. CUP, 2013.

Barokka, Khairani. “The Case against Italicizing ‘Foreign’ Words” at Catapult, 2020. (free)

Bhanot, Kavita and Jeremy Tiang. “Introduction” in Violent Phenomena: 21 Essays on Translation. Edited by Kavita Bhanot and Jeremy Tiang, Tilted Axis Press, 2022.

The Booker Prizes. “Generation TF: Who Is Really Reading Translated Fiction in the UK” at The Booker Prizes, 2023. (free)

Buchanan, Rowan Hisayo. “Who You’re Reading When You Read Haruki Murakami” in The Atlantic, 2020. (free)

Carpenter, Juliet Winters. “Absorbed in Translation: The Art—and Fun—of Literary Translation” at TheConversation.com, 2015. (free)

Carpenter, Juliet Winter and Mari Yoshihara. “Introduction” in The Fall of Language in the Age of English, Columbia, 2015.

Cunningham, Andrew and Emily Balistrieri. “Readers Don’t Need to Be Babied: A Conversation on Translating Japanese Literature” at TheMillions.com, 2019. (free)

Fowler, Edward. The Rhetoric of Confession: Shishōsetsu in Early Twentieth-Century Japanese Fiction, U of CA, 1992. 

“I Can’t Translate This! Remarks from Twelve Translators” in Monkey: New Writing from Japan, vol. 2, 2021.

Hur, Anton. “The Mythical English Reader” in Violent Phenomena: 21 Essays on Translation. Edited by Kavita Bhanot and Jeremy Tiang, Tilted Axis Press, 2022.

Iwabachi, Deborah. “The Easy Life in Kamusai and Kamusari Tales Told at Night: A Conversation with Translator Juliet Winters Carpenter” at SCWBI Japan Translation Group, 2022. (free)

Karashima, David. Who We’re Reading When We’re Reading Murakami. Soft Skull, 2020.

Kareem, Mona. “Western Poets Kidnap Your Poems and Call Them Translations: On the Colonial Phenomenon of Rendition as Translation” in Violent Phenomena: 21 Essays on Translation. Edited by Kavita Bhanot and Jeremy Tiang, Tilted Axis Press, 2022.

Keene, Donald. “The I-Novel” in Dawn to the West: Japanese Literature of the Modern Era—Fiction, 4th ed., 1999.

Margolis, Eric. “How the English Language Failed Banana Yoshimoto” at Metropolis, 2021. (free)

–. “Which Japanese Books Get Left Out of Translation” at UnseenJapan.com, 2023. (free)

Minghdoll, Jackie Friedman. “Jackie Friedman Mighdoll Talks with Translator Emily Balistrieri about Soul Lanterns” at SCBWI Japan, 2021. (free)

Mizumura Minae. The Fall of Language in the Age of English, Columbia, 2015.

Ortabasi, Melek. “Bridge Essay: Literary Translation in the Modern World” in A Companion to World Literature, ed. Ken Seigneurie, John Wiley & Sons, 2019.

Powell, Allison Markin. “Translating Women in Essential: Allison Markin Powell on Translating Kaoru Takamura’s Groundbreaking Japanese Crime Epic” at Soho.com, 2022. (free)

Udagawa, Avery Fischer and Mitali Chakravarty. “Translating Japanese: In Conversation with Avery Fischer Udagawa” at Borderless, 2021. (free)

Udagawa, Avery Fischer and Nanette McGuiness. “#Worldkitlit Weekend: A Coversation with Avery Fischer Udagawa, Translator of Award-Winning Japanese Children’s Author Sachiko Kashiwaba” at GlobalLiteratureinLibrariesInitiative.com, 2021. (free)

Zielinska-Elliott, Anna and Lynne E. Riggs. “True Collaboration on A True Novel.” Interview with Juliet Winters Carpenter at SWET: Society of Writers, Editors, and Translators, 2014. (free).