Panel Outline

When modern Japanese literature encounters other languages and cultures, a confrontation inevitably occurs between the supposedly universal “modernity” and the particular “Japanese modernity.” West-dominated studies of Japan have traditionally tended to focus on this particularity, but nowadays it is becoming increasingly important to question what changes might have occurred with the spread of the analytical concept of “world literature”, i.e., after Japanese literature too was liberated from the idea of being the literature of a specific region. In this special panel we want to consider the current state of research on modern Japanese literature from the perspective of translation.

In the West, the translation of Japanese literature was initially promoted mainly in order to introduce Japan to local audiences; nevertheless, the West’s desire to look at Japan from an Orientalist perspective often intersected with Japan’s own desire to break away from the East in favor of the West; this is seen, for example, in the use of crepe-paper books as souvenirs or the translation of The Tale of Genji by Suematsu Kenchō.

On the other hand, we must also consider the translation of Japanese literature in relation to Japan’s invasion of Asia. For instance, in Japan the translation and introduction of proletarian literature was mediated by Western ideology, but the proletarian literary and cultural movement was also subsequently introduced to colonial Korea; and Hino Ashihei’s Mugi to Heitai (Wheat and Soldiers) was translated into various languages as propaganda, made to symbolize Japan’s imperial desires. In contrast, Ishikawa Tatsuzō’s Ikite Iru Heitai (Soldiers Alive) was banned in Japan but, through its Chinese translation, reached a global audience and served as an indictment of the inhumanity of the Japanese army. Furthermore, in wartime, research on Japan was often conducted as military strategy, which calls for a reconsideration of the power relationships between translation, research, and domination. The fact that Donald Lawrence Keene and Edward George Seidensticker studied Japanese at the U.S. Navy Japanese Language School is directly linked to the postwar translation projects of Mishima Yukio and Kawabata Yasunari at the Alfred A. Knopf Publishing House. Also, the Ford Foundation-based translation projects carried out amidst the Cold War catalyzed the international promotion of Japanese studies as a field of area studies in the postwar period.

Since the 1980s, Haruki Murakami’s international popularity opened new research perspectives on Japanese literature as “world literature,” i.e., one not premised on the “nation of Japan.” The Japanese Literature Publishing Project, established in 2002 and sponsored by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, as well as projects initiated by the Japan Foundation, provide funding for the translation of Japanese literature into the languages of Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and other regions, while also promoting Japanese studies abroad. At the same time, the “soft power” of popular cultural products such as manga and anime, as promoted by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry’s “Cool Japan” program (albeit with varied reception), has left its mark on current Japanese studies. In recent years, through the translation of works by Murata Sayaka, Kawakami Mieko et al, Japanese literature by women writers has made great strides in the English-speaking world, while recent translations of Yū Miri’s Tokyo Ueno Station and Tawada Yōko’s The Last Children of Tokyo won the U.S. National Book Award, and Ogawa Yōko was nominated, too. There has also been a noticeable shift in research, including the publication of new introductory texts with a more attentive focus on cultural studies, such as the Routledge Handbook of Modern Japanese Literature (2016), which replace Keene’s 1984 Dawn to the West. With this in mind, in this special panel we aim to reconsider modern Japanese literature and its research from a transnational perspective.

AMJLS Organizing Committee

Keynote Lecture

SETO Tomoko: Border Crossing, Connectivity, Uniqueness: “Nihon Kenkyū/ Japan Studies” in Flux

Calls for “internationalization” have been present in various sectors of Japanese society since the latter half of the 20^th century, but it was only in the early 21^st century that this imperative took hold in academia, particularly within the field of Japan Studies. The increased mobility of people and the widespread use of the internet have made cross-cultural interaction an everyday reality, challenging the traditional foundations of area studies, which were often rooted in nation-based historical frameworks. One of the most obvious manifestations of this relativization is the fact that conducting “Japan studies” in English-speaking countries without a cross-border perspective or comparative analysis that takes into consideration “East Asia” and “trans-regionalism” has come to be seen as increasingly untenable. This shift in perspective has led scholars to move beyond single-nation approaches, recognizing that their subject matter is continually reshaped by broader contexts.

But what problems and possibilities emerge when we confirm this from an individual perspective? Here, I would like to introduce some of my own personal history as I took my first steps as a researcher at the beginning of the 21^st century. I was trained in North American academia, then went on to teach Japanese history and culture in English at a Korean university. Although born and raised in Japan and a native speaker of Japanese, my examination of “Japan” began from a place and in a language other than my own.

Having actively moved between languages and nations on multiple occasions, I can say that researchers and students think about “Japan”—whether in the U.S., Korea, or Japan— in ways that are naturally diverse. I have also experienced multiple transitions or overlaps in rank, place of residence, and field of study (history and cultural studies), which have made me feel that boundaries and divisions are neither fixed nor self-evident. For me, “Nihon Kenkyū/ Japan Studies” is a process of wandering through spaces of difference, each such movement reshaping everything, including my own identity. I am not alone in this experience. Many others approach the study of “Japan” in even more diverse and complex ways, spanning languages, national borders, and disciplines. In this presentation, I will explore the unique potentials of multilingual and multidisciplinary “Japan Studies/ Nihon Kenkyū” drawing on both recent research and scholarly trends and my own experiences.

Presentation 1

Gregory KHERZNEJAT: “Japanese Literature” as a Genre: Changes in the Concept of Nihon Bungaku (Japanese Literature) in the English-speaking World

In the 1950s, when Knopf launched a project to introduce Japanese literature to American readers, Editor-in-Chief Harold Strauss explained to the media that his aim was to translate modern Japanese novels into English, beginning with Osaragi Jirō’s Kikyō (Homecoming) and Tanizaki Jun’ichirō’s Tade kuu mushi (Some Prefer Nettles), in order to help American audiences understand the “sensibility” and “inner life” of the Japanese people, thereby supporting the friendly postwar relationship between Japan and the United States—two nations increasingly connected politically, economically, and culturally. At the time, Knopf had already published works by several Nobel Prize-winning authors from other national literatures and held similar expectations for Japanese writers, emphasizing their literary value. However, during this period, the primary role of Japanese novels in translation remained to serve as cultural representations of Japan for Western readers.

In recent years, the position of Japanese literature in the Anglophone literary publishing world has changed dramatically. Now that the overwhelming presence of Haruki Murakami has waned, a more diverse range of Japanese writing is reaching English-speaking audiences than ever before. Not only is there no longer a demand to express the “inner life” of the Japanese people or the essence of Japanese society, but more and more novels that interrogate or complicate the relationships between nation, ethnicity, language, and literature are being translated into English.

As a result, recently “Japanese literature” has come to be understood as “literature originally written in the Japanese language” rather than “Japanese national literature.” The shift parallels developments taking place in the Japanese publishing industry but is also shaped by the unique dynamics of the Anglophone publishing market.

This presentation explores the background of this transformation, focusing on the commercial and critical role of “Japanese literature” as a genre constructed and sustained by contemporary publishing and scholarly practices in the English-speaking world.

Presentation 2

Rouli Esther PASARIBU: The Reception of Japanese Literature in Indonesia: Focusing on Research and Translation

This presentation will examine the reception of Japanese literature in Indonesia from the perspective of both research and translation.

The study of Japanese literature in Indonesia is mainly conducted by faculty and students in Japanese departments at higher education institutions. This presentation will look at the themes explored in literature-related papers, focusing on academic papers published by Japanese studies departments in Indonesian higher education institutions, graduation theses from Japanese studies departments in Indonesian universities, and papers presented at Japanese studies conferences in Indonesia. The goal is to shed light on the trends in Japanese literature research in Indonesia. The presentation will focus not only on well-studied themes and authors, but also on those that have received less attention. It will discuss why certain themes and authors are frequently studied in Indonesia and why others have been less explored as research topics.

When considering the reception of Japanese literature in Indonesia, translation is also an important factor. This presentation will examine the current state and development of Japanese literary translation in Indonesia from the perspectives of publishers, translators, and readers, focusing on the period from the 1970s to the present. The history of Japanese literature translation in Indonesia can be divided into three main periods: 1) from the 1970s to the 1980s, 2) the 1990s, and 3) from the 2000s to the present. Each period reveals distinct characteristics in the way translations were approached. From the 1970s to the 1980s, Indonesian translations of Japanese literature were commonly done through an English intermediary. During the same period, the focus was mainly on translating prominent male authors of modern Japanese literature, such as Kawabata Yasunari, Natsume Sōseki, and Mishima Yukio. Then, in the 1990s, university professors of Japanese literature became the main contributors, translating Japanese literature in order to use them in university Japanese literature courses. From the 2000s to the present, with the rise of Japanese pop culture and advances in internet technology, the translation of Japanese literature has diversified.

In recent years, publishers specializing in the translation of literature from Asia, including Japan, have emerged and the range of translated works has become more diverse when compared to the 1970s. For example, works by female authors such as Murata Sayaka and Matsuda Aoko have been translated, along with genre fiction such as mystery and thriller novels. At the same time, works considered part of the modern literary canon—such as those by Akutagawa Ryūnosuke—continue to be translated. In parallel, with the spread of internet technology—especially since the 2010s—readers are no longer merely passive consumers of translated literature; instead, they are becoming active participants through book reviews and discussions posted in reading communities and on social media platforms.

My presentation will examine these developments in the reception of Japanese literature in Indonesia, connecting them to the broader historical and social context of Indonesia–Japan relations.

Discussant: SUZUKI Takane