Category Archives: translation

Japanese novel translation: “The Rainlands” by Haruka Asahi [Chapter 10]

This is the 10th and final chapter of the fantasy novel “The Rainlands” (雨の国) by Haruka Asahi (朝陽遥) which I am translating from Japanese with the author’s permission. It is about a man’s journey to a mysterious land where he has a ideological conflict with the indigenous customs there. You can see a synopsis and table… Read More »

How to ask an author (in Japanese) for translation permission

These days I’ve been pretty active translating a variety of Japanese novels (in part or in full) to English and posting them on my blog. Whether the original work is published online somewhere or with paper media, I highly recommend getting the author and (if applicable) publisher’s permission before you post anything translated online, even… Read More »

Japanese novel translation: “Cube City” (立方体都市) by Ikkai Inubousaki (犬吠埼一介): Chapter 1, Part 1

I’ve discovered another interesting Japanese novel published online on Kakuyomu so I contacted the author, and he was kind enough to give me permission to translate it and post the result on my blog. The novel is titled “Cube City” (立方体都市) and written by Ikkai Inubousaki (犬吠埼一介). The novel is broken up into a few chapters, and… Read More »

The Japanese particle は(wa), 癒やし (iyashi), and therapeutic dogs.

Grammar is interesting because it allows packing a lot of meaning into only a few words. In Japanese, a language where words are often omitted, that is even more so. In this post I want to analyze the following sentence, which I heard the other day: 犬は癒やされますね。 [Inu wa iyasaremasu ne] This sentence is quite… Read More »

Japanese novel translation: “The Rainlands” by Haruka Asahi [Chapter 9]

This is the 9th chapter of the fantasy novel “The Rainlands” (雨の国) by Haruka Asahi (朝陽遥) which I am translating from Japanese with the author’s permission. It is about a man’s journey to a mysterious land where he has a ideological conflict with the indigenous customs there. If you enjoy this story and want to read more,… Read More »

Japanese novel translation: “The Rainlands” by Haruka Asahi [Chapter 8]

This is the 8th chapter of the fantasy novel “The Rainlands” (雨の国) by Haruka Asahi (朝陽遥) which I am translating from Japanese with the author’s permission. It is about a man’s journey to a mysterious land where he has a moral conflict with the indigenous customs there. If you enjoy this story and want to read more,… Read More »

Japanese novel translation: “House Ephemera” by Hatasu Shikishima [Chapter 1]

This is the first chapter of a new story I am translating titled “House Ephemera” (蜉蝣の家) by Hatasu Shikishima (識島果). Thanks to Sherayuki for helping proofread this chapter. You can see the full Japanese text of this chapter here. See this page which contains a brief synopsis and links to other chapters (as they are… Read More »

Japanese novel translation: “The Rainlands” by Haruka Asahi [Chapter 7]

This is the 7th chapter of the fantasy novel “The Rainlands” (雨の国) by Haruka Asahi (朝陽遥) which I am translating from Japanese with the author’s permission. It is about a man’s journey to a mysterious land where he has a moral conflict with their indigenous customs.  While I had taken a break from this series for a… Read More »

Twitter review: “Novel opening bot” (小説冒頭bot): Experience Japanese literature in bite-sized chunks

It’s only recently that I’ve been spending more time using Twitter, both posting links for some of my articles as well as reading those made by others. I’m sure many people will agree that Twitter is a great way to eat up your time, but from what I’ve seen it is, more often than not,… Read More »

Japanese Literature Translation Sample: The Introduction of「蜜蜂と遠雷」(Honey Bees and Distant Thunder) by 「恩田 陸」 (Riku Onda)

Recently I reviewed the Japanese novel “Honey Bees and Distant Thunder” (蜜蜂と遠雷) by Riku Onda (恩田 陸). In this post I decided to translate the short intro of the book as an exercise to improve my translation skills. This excerpt has some really good imagery and translating it was both a joy and a challenge.… Read More »