Bungaku Days, an annual event presented by the Japanese Literature Publishing Project, is comprised of a symposium of topical discussions surrounding Japanese writing, as well as an award ceremony for the organization’s International Translation Competition. This year, translators, writers, and literati gathered in Kyoto to discuss the craft of translation and recognize new achievements in the field, with various experts dispensing knowledge of both the creative and the logistical matters of international literature. Here, Mary Hillis reports on the goings-on of this year’s edition.
In At the End of the Matinee by Keiichiro Hirano (tr. Juliet Winters Carpenter), the character Makino recalls when he first understood how to breathe life into his classical guitar performances: “Music is born in opposition to the beauty of silence; the creation of music lies in the attempt to use sound to bring about new beauty that contrasts with the beauty of silence.” Just as music relies on silence to give it shape, literature rests on pauses, echoes of history, interstices where interpretation takes root. In bringing Japanese literature to a wider audience, it is necessary to bridge these gaps, not merely by transferring language but by truly transforming it. Whether in rendering nuance across cultures, adapting novels into visual media, or retranslating classical works, translators often dwell in the space between the lines.
In late February, the ninth Bungaku Days, an international translation competition and symposium held by The Japanese Literature Publishing Project (JLPP), took place at the Kyoto International Conference Center. With its rich literary history, Kyoto was an ideal location for the event’s inaugural classical literature competition, yet the half-day program deftly harmonized tradition and modernity.
In his welcome message, Tokura Shunichi, commissioner for Cultural Affairs of Japan, raised the idea of reading liminal spaces, a theme which resurfaced throughout the day. During the session “Writing and Translating—Poetry and Fiction, Translating the ‘Second Person’—Creating Masterful Translations Amid Differences in Texts and Languages,” translator Polly Barton mentioned that translation does indeed require making inferences and thinking creatively, as it is a delicate process to break down the voice in one language and recreate it in another. Although her book Fifty Sounds saw the translator make her debut in the memoir genre, she emphasized that translation and writing are not separate: they are both creative endeavors which shape and inform each other. Barton’s recent translations include A Hundred Years and a Day by Shibasaki Tomoka, The Place of Shells by Ishizawa Mai, and Hunchback by Ichikawa Saou, which has recently been longlisted for this year’s International Booker Prize.
Joining her in the discussion was poet and novelist Idogawa Iko, who began publishing poetry and fiction after becoming a high school Japanese teacher. She was awarded the Akutagawa Prize in for her book Kono yo no yorokobi yo, which notably utilizes the second person, and during the talk, she discussed the rarity of this point of view in literature—especially in Japanese novels—as well as the unease it is likely to provoke in the reader. “Maihōmu,” a piece from Iko’s collection, was a source text for the contemporary literature category in this year’s translation contest, for which Barton, along with Michael Emmerich and Stephen Snyder, served as judges. Awards in the Contemporary Literature Category were presented to Rebecca Graham, Laura Ikeda, and Nicolas Keen (English), and Anna Sanner (German).
Barton also joined a panel on “The Market for Japanese Translation Outside of Japan and Support Systems for Emerging Translators—Overseas Views on Japanese Literary Translations and the Roles of Translators,” along with Eduard Klopfenstein, Professor Emeritus at the University of Zurich, and Alexa Frank, Associate Editor at HarperVia. Frank provided an interesting perspective from her role at the Harper Collins imprint, which is dedicated to showcasing international voices, having published Japanese titles including Idol, Burning by Usami Rin (tr. Yoneda Asa) and Run with the Wind by Miura Shion (tr. Kajita Yui). In discussing the surging popularity of Japanese literature overseas, she named several factors: manga, healing fiction, and social media. The first concerns the increased accessibility of manga, with its growing market in North America and continual popularity in Europe—especially in France, which is the genre’s biggest importer. Second is the enormous popularity of Japanese women writers in the English language market, spurred by Murata Sayaka’s Convenience Store Woman (tr. Ginny Tapley Takemori) and the established trend of “healing fiction,” or iyashikei novels—which often feature cats or cafes (e.g. The Guest Cat by Hiraide Takashi and translated by Eric Selland, The Cat Who Saved Books by Natsukawa Sosuke and translated by Louise Heal Kawai, The Full Moon Coffee Shop by Mochizuki Mai and translated by Jesse Kirkwood). Finally, BookTok (a community of TikTok users who love reading and books) has attracted a new generation of readers to modernist novels—such as No Longer Human by Dazai Osamu (tr. Juliet Winters Carpenter).
The keynote session featured a dynamic dialogue between Matayoshi Naoki and Chad Mullane on the topic of “The Intersection of Literature, Owarai Comedy, and Translation.” Although both speakers are widely known in Japan as comedians, they are also engaged in literature and translation. Matayoshi is an active screenwriter and novelist who received the 2015 Akutagawa Prize for his book Hibana (which has also been adapted for Netflix), and Mullane works as an audiovisual subtitle translator for films and various series. Their lively discussion explored various points, such as the importance of rhythm across genres.
Screen adaptations were also discussed during the session “Japanese Stories the World Seeks—Potential for Global Expansion of Literary Content.” During the conversation between Mullane, Arai Hiroshi (a manager at the Rights Department of the publishing company Bungeishunju Ltd.), and Saegusa Ryosuke (co-founder of the literary agency CTB Inc.), it was mentioned that the majority of Japan’s cultural content exports are concentrated in the gaming industry, followed by anime, and finally by foreign rights for Japanese books and television series. As a reader and reviewer of Japanese crime fiction, I was particularly interested in hearing Saegusa recount the success of Isaka Kōtaro’s 2010 novel Maria Beetle, which was published as Bullet Train (tr. Sam Malissa) in 2021 and released as a Hollywood blockbuster in 2022, directed by David Leitch and starring Brad Pitt. The journey of bringing this story to an overseas audience reaffirmed the need for dedicated staff in negotiating foreign rights deals.
In a previous interview, Saegusa stated that Isaka’s work was destined for the screen, saying that his books “. . . manage to be humorous and suspenseful at the same time” and that the author is known for “unforgettable characters, intricate plots, and surprising finales.” Even so, when talks of a film began, they faced an uphill battle, as Isaka’s novels had yet to be translated, and he was basically unknown overseas. Now, however, Bullet Train is not only a hit film but also an international bestseller, and other books from his Hitman series, Three Assassins, The Mantis, and Hotel Lucky Seven are available in English, with the first two translated by Sam Malissa and the last by Brian Bergstrom.
In commemoration of Bungaku Days hosting its first competition in the classical literature category, a panel was held on the topic of “Translating Classical Japanese: Finding a Natural Voice for Classical Works.” The featured experts were scholar and translator Janine Beichman, translator and poet Peter MacMillan, and translator Meredith McKinney, with poet and translator Moriyama Megumi acting as moderator. Their wide-ranging discussion touched on the relationship between classical poetry and Japanese art, the retranslation of classic works, and the efforts in making this rich world available to a wider readership. As they spoke, they often referenced the teachings of Donald Keene, a legendary scholar of Japanese literature and culture whose insights still influence the field today.
For the competition, contestants had been tasked with translating a text which combines both prose and haiku: Haibun by Kobayashi Issa, and the final awardees were Abe Yoko, William Fleming, and Sameeha Anwar. Although haiku is traditionally written in three lines with a fixed structure, the judges mentioned that entrants elected to treat the text in different ways. Many maintained the three lines, but the grand prize winner rendered the poem in one line, possibly creating a more integrated feel between the prose and poetry.
Throughout the day, pieces of advice for emerging translators also came up. As the first winner of the JLPP International Translation Competition and a judge for this year’s event, Barton expressed that this was a full-circle moment for her. Among other points, she brought up a point similar to one found in her 2021 interview with Asymptote: “Something that I think about a lot with translation is that what is dangerous as a translator is not the things you know you don’t know, but the things you don’t know you don’t know—allusions or intertextual references that just totally pass you by.”
The judging panel encouraged this year’s winners to keep learning and making connections within the industry, using this experience to move their professional journeys forward. The symposium demonstrated that literature, like music, is not confined by borders—it moves, it transforms, it finds new voices. With that being said, entries are now being accepted for the tenth JLPP International Translation Competition, which is sure to bring more innovative approaches and fascinating works to the forefront.
Mary Hillis is an educational arm assistant at Asymptote. She has an MA in English with a specialization in teaching English to speakers of other languages. She lives in Japan, where she teaches English language and literature at the university level.
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