Japanese Book News is published quarterly by the Japan Foundation mainly to provide publishers, editors, translators, scholars, and libraries with up-to-date information about publishing trends in Japan and brief descriptions of the content of selected new books. The opinions and views expressed in the essays and new title summaries are not necessarily those of the Japan Foundation or the advisory board.

Kenshin [Dog's Body]
By Matsuura Rieko

Asahi Shimbunsha, 2007. 190x132 mm. 512 pp. ¥2,000. ISBN 978-4-02-250335-0.

In this full-length novel, Matsuura Rieko dreamed up an unexpected by turning a human being into a dog that is petted by the person it loves. Positioned on the other side of the story is a gruesome, realistic, abnormal love-hate family relationship, which contrasts sharply against the pure heartfelt relationship between the dog and person.

Matsuura probed her original stance towards sex by releasing a voluminous novel called Oyayubi P no shugyo jidai [The Edification of Big Toe P] in 1993 that surprised the readers by basing her story on an extremely strange setting. Matsuura expanded her free imagination further in Kenshin. Unbound by the conventional framework of a popular story, her stance struck a chord in the readers hearts.

In the tale, the dogturned- heroine says, “My soul is damaged, and must taste very bad.” In response, the Mephistopheles-like man who demands Fusae s soul says, “Don t worry. A well-beaten soul tastes good, just like certain kinds of meat.” With exquisite humor and earnestness of the dialog, this story cultivates new ground for the contemporary novel.

The story features dog-related puns and the title Kenshin has a double meaning: “dog s body” and “devotion.” (NM)

Download Japanese Book News, Summer 2008

PDF format, 1.6MB, 16Pages. Published by The Japan Foundation.

Tsuyakusha to sengo Nichi-Bei gaiko
[Interpreter and Postwar Japan-US Diplomacy]
By Torikai Kumiko
Misuzu Shobo, 2007. 188x128 mm. 408 pp. ¥3,800. ISBN 978-4-622-07309-3.

An interpreter is an important bridge between different languages. Since the author, Torikai Kumiko, interpreted the live telecast of Apollo 11 s first manned lunar landing in 1969, she continued to be a firsthand interpreter mainly working on NHK's programs. Facing dilemmas upon having to interpret things she did not agree with, however, she later switched to a university position.

This book is an academic study on “what interpreting is” by Torikai who had retained a long-time question: “why did I stop being an interpreter?” Upon realizing the need to study the socio-cultural meaning of interpreting, she wrote this book by interviewing five pioneering simultaneous interpreters including Nishiyama Sen, Soma Yukika, Muramatsu Masumi, Kunihiro Masao and Komatsu Tatsuya through the oral history method.

The book describes the communication in a prison camp during WWII, negotiation on the reversion of Okinawa to Japan, and the story of Prime Minister Nakasone s controversial statement in 1983, when his expression, “a large aircraft carrier,” was back-translated into English as an “unsinkable aircraft carrier.”

One interpreter s work, which sheds light on another side of diplomatic history, makes for an interesting and even entertaining book in the process. (SH)

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