2025年度「現代日本文学の翻訳・普及事業」
BUNGAKU DAYS 2025 SPRING
Award Ceremony for the 9th JLPP International Translation Competition and Commemorative Symposium : BUNGAKU DAYS 2025 SPRING
- The Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan, has announced the winners of the 9th JLPP International Translation Competition across each category and language. The award ceremony and commemorative symposium will take place on February 22, 2025. Notably, this will mark the first time BUNGAKU DAYS is held in Kyoto, coinciding with the introduction of the new classical literature category in this Competition.
BUNGAKU DAYS 2025 SPRING
[ Award Ceremony for the 9th JLPP International Translation Competition and Commemorative Symposium ]
| Date : | February 22, 2025, 1:00p.m. - (Doors open at noon) | ||||||||||||||||
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| Venue : |
[Kyoto Main Venue] Kyoto International Conference Center (ICC Kyoto), Room D 422 Iwakura Osagicho, Sakyo Ward, Kyoto https://www.icckyoto.or.jp/en/access-2/getting_here/ [Tokyo Satellite Venue] Rooms 403 and 404, 4th floor, Publisher Club building 1-32 Kanda Jimbocho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo https://shuppan-club.jp/access The Tokyo venue will serve as a satellite venue with a live broadcast. |
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| Capacity : |
[Kyoto Main Venue] 250
[Tokyo Satellite Venue] 100
Admission free
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| Program : * The schedule and contents have been changed. |
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| Language : | Japanese / English (Simultaneous interpretation available) * The Tokyo venue will be in Japanese only. | ||||||||||||||||
| Registration: |
To attend BUNGAKU DAYS, please register below by Friday, February 21. |
Award Ceremony for the 9th JLPP International Translation Competition
For the 9th Competition, we called for submissions of the source texts “Maihōmu” by Idogawa Iko and “Kabuki," “Shichigatsu no watashi," “Chichi Serifu sansen” by Kishimoto Sachiko for the Contemporary Literature Category. For the Classical Literature Category, the source text was Haibun by Kobayashi Issa. After a rigorous judging process, the winners for each language and category were selected in January 2025. We are delighted to host an in-person award ceremony in Japan as we did last year, welcoming the winners and members of the judging committee.
Judging Committee
Contemporary Literature Category/English
Polly Barton (Translator of Japanese literature)
Michael Emmerich (Translator of Japanese literature, Professor of University of California Los Angeles)
Stephen Snyder (Translator of Japanese Literature, Professor at Middlebury College)
Michael Emmerich (Translator of Japanese literature, Professor of University of California Los Angeles)
Stephen Snyder (Translator of Japanese Literature, Professor at Middlebury College)
Contemporary Literature Category/German
Katja Cassing (Translator of Japanese literature )
Eduard Klopfenstein Klopfenstein (Translator of Japanese literature, Professor Emeritus of Japanese Studies at the University of Zurich)
Asa-Bettina Wuthenow (Japanese literature researcher, translator, interpreter, Associate Professor of Japanese Studies at Heidelberg University)
Eduard Klopfenstein Klopfenstein (Translator of Japanese literature, Professor Emeritus of Japanese Studies at the University of Zurich)
Asa-Bettina Wuthenow (Japanese literature researcher, translator, interpreter, Associate Professor of Japanese Studies at Heidelberg University)
Classical Literature Category/English
Janine Beichman (Scholar and translator of Japanese Literature, Professor Emeritus at Daito Bunka University)
Peter MacMillan (Translator of Japanese literature, poet)
Moriyama Megumi (Poet, translator of Japanese literature)
Peter MacMillan (Translator of Japanese literature, poet)
Moriyama Megumi (Poet, translator of Japanese literature)
Prize Winners
Contemporary Literature Category/English
Grand Prize
- Rebecca Graham
- Born in 1976 in Australia. Rebecca Graham graduated from the University of Sydney with a degree in linguistics. Having lived in Japan for 16 years, she currently works as an English instructor at a company that offers corporate language programs. With a strong interest in literature, she read the winning entries from the previous JLPP International Translation Competition to understand what constitutes a good literary translation, which led her to participate in this year's Competition. She aspires to work in the field of literary translation in the future.
Second Prize
- Laura Ikeda
- Born in 1981 in the United States. Laura Ikeda majored in psychology and literature at Ithaca College. A mother of three, she works as an English teacher at a kindergarten. Her interest in translation was sparked through an online book club where participants read and discuss Japanese novels and translated literature, leading her to challenge herself by participating in the JLPP International Translation Competition. She found the process of finding the perfect word or phrase to match both the meaning and the feeling of the original work to be highly stimulating.
Second Prize
- Nicolas Keen
- Born in the United Kingdom in 1971. Nicolas Keen earned honours degree in Computing Science (Software Engineering) from the University of Greenwich. He studied Japanese independently for a number of years, qualifying as a Japanese-English translator for Gengo.com. His employment history includes office work and research. Currently self-employed (online retail). He is committed to further developing my translation skills through ongoing self-study and practice.
Contemporary Literature Category/German
Grand Prize
- Anna Sanner
- Born in 1980 in Germany. She has a BA in Japanese Studies from the University of Stirling in Scotland and spent a year studying at the ICU in Tokyo. After living in Japan for five years, she now works as a teacher, translator and interpreter in Hannover, Germany. In 2021 she was awarded the translation scholarship, “Translasien,” from Deutscher Übersetzerfond and the University of Heidelberg for her translation of a chapter from Jun Kato’s work, “Seikimatsu Berurin Taizaiki – Berlin 2000”. In 2022, she published a memoir about her experience as a ninja apprentice in Iga, Wie man in Japan Ninja wird, published by Reisedepschen Verlag, Berlin.
Second Prize
Not awarded
Classical Literature Category/English
Grand Prize
- Abe Yoko
- Born in 1965 in Kanagawa Prefecture. Abe Yoko completed graduate studies at the Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology, the University of Tokyo, followed by the Graduate School at the University of East Anglia in the UK. She is an associate professor in the College of Liberal Arts, Department of English, at Tsuda University. While studying and teaching English poetry. While studying and teaching English poetry, she has begun translating contemporary poetry and now views translating Japanese poetry into English as a new lifelong pursuit. She is considering exploring the translation of Classical Japanese poetry.
Second Prize
- William Fleming
- Born in 1979 in the United States. William Fleming is an associate professor in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultural Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He specializes in early modern Japanese literature. He is the author of Strange Tales from Edo: Rewriting Chinese Fiction in Early Modern Japan (Harvard University Asia Center, 2023) and co-author of Samurai and the Culture of Japan’s Great Peace (Yale University Peabody Museum of Natural History, 2015). He is currently working on a book-length annotated translation of an eighteenth-century Japanese collection of supernatural tales titled Tales from the Withering Wind (Kogarashi zōshi).
Second Prize
- Sameeha Anwar
- Born in 1991 in Bangladesh (currently holds Japanese nationality), Sameeha Anwar graduated from Pace University in New York. Since 2016, she has been based in Tokyo, working as a Japanese-English translator and writer, specializing mainly in films, documentaries, and commercial translations. To pursue a career in literary translation, she has participated in translation workshops led by renowned translators. Her literary interests span a wide range of genres, including classical poetry, nature essays, and mythology.
Commemorative Symposium for the 9th JLPP International Translation Competition
Opening Keynote Speech
The Intersection of Literature, Owarai Comedy, and Translation
Matayoshi Naoki (Comedian, Novelist)
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Chad Mullane (Comedian, Audiovisual Subtitle Translator)
* No archived video will be available.
Session 1.
Writing and Translating – Poetry and Fiction, Translating the “Second Person”
- Creating the Masterful Translations Amid Differences in Texts and Languages -
Photo Rana Shimada
©Kodansha
Idogawa Iko (Poet, Novelist)
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©Garry Loughlin
Polly Barton (Translator of Japanese literature)
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Moderator : Yoshio Hitomi (Professor at Waseda University, Literary Translator)
Session 2.
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 -
Eduard Klopfenstein (Japanese Literary Translator, Professor Emeritus of Japanese Studies at the University of Zurich)
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©Garry Loughlin
Polly Barton (Translator of Japanese literature)
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Alexa Frank (Associate Editor, HarperVia)
Session 3.
Translating Classical Japanese: Finding a Natural Voice for Classical Works
- The Appeal of Classical Japanese Literature and Striving for Their Exceptional Translation -
Janine Beichman (Scholar and translator of Japanese Literature, Professor Emeritus at Daito Bunka University)
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Peter MacMillan (Translator of Japanese literature, poet)
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Meredith McKinney (Translator of Classical, Early Modern, and Contemporary Japanese Literature )
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Moriyama Megumi (Poet, translator and critic)
Special Session
Japanese Stories the World Seeks - Potential for Global Expansion of Literary Content
Arai Hiroshi
(Senior Manager, Rights Department, Bungeishunju Ltd.)
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©Munemasa Takahashi
Saegusa Ryosuke
(Co-Founder, CTB Inc.)
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Chad Mullane
(Comedian, Audiovisual Subtitle Translator)
* No archived video will be available.
| Inquiries about BUNGAKU DAYS 2025 SPRING : | Please contact us through the "Inquiry" page on the JLPP website. https://www.jlpp.go.jp/jp/inquiry/index.php |
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