Translators and Translation Projects

Translators and Current Translation Projects

Maplopo

The Very Best Writing From Japan. Like Short Stories? Get four short stories a year for life in our Reading Circle.

Official Website: https://maplopo.com/
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YouTube Channel
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Doc and Reiko, the translating team behind Maplopo, are working to make more of Japan’s literary masterpieces available for English readers. Check out their website and their translations:

  • Reading Circle: Sign up for email updates when new stories are released. The best part? It’s absolutely free!

  • Translations: Read and download Maplopo’s translations of Dazai, Nakajima, Sakaguchi, and Soseki.

  • Learn with Literature: A collection of Japanese to English parallel texts, Japanese calligraphy, and Maplopo’s Monday Musings series.

  • Writings: Check out these Maplopo Originals, Doc’s Desk, Reiko’s Write-ups, and Aftertalks.

  • Videos: A collection of video trailers and samples.

Check back on Maplopo’s website and sign up for their Reading Circle for updates on translations and projects.

Purchase Maplopo's Translations on Amazon:

Legend of the Master by Nakajima Atsushi

In this classic tale of tortured ambition and the eventual discovery of artistic enlightenment, Nakajima Atsushi brilliantly blends Confucian and Zen Buddhist thought in a well crafted, cinematic story about an archer on a quest to be the greatest of all time. This Japanese literary masterpiece is the first in "Maplopo's "Masters of Story" collection.

Wish Fulfilled: A Vignette by Osamu Dazai

As we edge toward the 75th anniversary of Osamu Dazai's death, much of his masterful prose remains surprisingly unknown to most English language readers. This observational vignette written by a youthful Dazai offers a lovely introduction to the introspective master widely known and loved in Japan. Translated in Japan by Doc and Reiko Kane of Maplopo, this semi-autobiographical account should serve as a nice introduction to those unaware of Dazai's genius. For those well aware of his talents (and possibly the several decade-old translation of this particular work) this updated translation in English provides a fresh look at this masterful vignette.

Wind, Light, and the Twenty-Year-Old Me by Sakaguchi Ango

What is unhappiness? What does it mean to be unhappy? And can settling into it, breathing it in, enduring its weight upon us until we finally pass through it, actually be the answer to knowing its polar opposite? For Sakaguchi Ango, the answer to this last question would be an emphatic yes. To the first two, it would seem he never gave up the personal quest to find out.In this story, published in 1947 not long before his death, Sakaguchi confronts us no matter where we are on our journey in life to pause and think a bit more about where we're headed. Are we on the right path? Should we correct course? Do we think we're happy when we're really far from it?"Wind, Light, and the Twenty-Year-Old Me is the third in the Masters of Story series from Maplopo. This Sakaguchi Ango edition includes the full aftertalk from translators and publishers, Doc and Reiko Kane, as well as a biographical timeline of Sakaguchi Ango from his birth in 1906 to his death in 1955.

Old and Very Old Stories from Japan.

From translator Shelley Marshall, Japan Reads is a website that includes works by Dazai Osamu, Sakaguchi Ango, Miyazawa Kenji, and others. Check out her translations here:

Website: http://jpopbooks-heroku-22.herokuapp.com/
Amazon Listings

M Skeels

M Skeels translates games, manga, and literature from Japanese into English.

Website: skeelstranslations.wordpress.com
Twitter: @MSkeels_


These are some of M Skeels' translations by and about BSD authors:

“The Dining Car on the Night Train” by Nakahara Chuuya

“Good Girl” by Nakahara Chuuya

“My Brother’s Homecoming” by Koganei Kimiko

\“The Window to the Flower Shop” by Katayama Hiroko

“The Fingers” by Edogawa Ranpo

Purchase “Immaculate” by Oda Sakunosuke