Translation, Literature, and MeJapanese-Turkish Literary Translators’ Visit Report #2

In conjunction with celebrations marking the centennial anniversary of Japanese–Turkish diplomatic relations, the Japan Foundation hosted a thirteen-day visit to Japan for seven early- to mid-career Turkish translators of Japanese literature in November 2024. (Japanese–Turkish Literary Translators’ Visit)

At a panel discussion held during their stay, each participant delivered a short presentation on the theme “Translation, Literature, and Me,” with Miyashita Ryo (associate professor, Osaka University) serving as moderator. This was a valuable opportunity for the seven to share with one another their initial encounters with Japanese literature and their perspectives on translating it. In this report we feature extracts from the presentations delivered by Nesibe Kaya and Filiz Yılmaz.

The seven participants with professor Miyashita at the Japan Foundation Japanese-Language Institute, Urawa (November 2024)

Pursuing an Interest in Postwar Japanese Literature

Nesibe Kaya
Research fellow, Burdur Mehmet Akif Ersoy University

My research centers on Japanese literature produced during the US occupation after World War II, and the working title of my dissertation is Censored Literary Works of Japan’s Occupation Period (1945–1952) Considered from the Perspective of Literary Sociology. How did Japanese literature become so prolific during that unprecedented age when the country was placed under occupation after being bombed with nuclear weapons? Amid repression and censorship, people continued to express their sensibilities, and that is exactly what I find so fascinating and exciting about the literature of the US occupation period. My particular focus has been on the work of Mishima Yukio and Abe Kobo, and while investigating research themes, I discovered the anthology series Sengo senryo tanpen shosetsu korekushon [Postwar Occupation Short Story Collection], edited by Terada Hiroshi, Kono Kensuke, and Kawasaki Kenko. I was deeply moved by the magnificent works it contained and would like to publish it in Turkish translation at some point. A wide range of Turkish readers would surely be interested in literature connected to Japanese history, and I hope one day to have the chance to introduce this collection to those readers.

Photo of Nesibe Kaya

My Path to Japanese Literature Began with Turkish Poetry

Filiz Yılmaz
Assistant professor, Ankara University

My interest in Japan began with my encounter as an elementary school student with Turkish poet Nâzım Hikmet’s 1956 “Kız cocuğu” [trans. “The Little Girl of Hiroshima”]. This poem tells the tale of a seven-year-old girl who lost her life in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. One thing I learned from it was that expressing opposition to nuclear weapons is not something only the Japanese can do. I was also moved by Inoue Hisashi’s Chichi to kuraseba [trans. The Face of Jizo], which depicts the guilt of surviving a nuclear bombing and the protagonist’s struggle to live with that guilt. Written in Hiroshima dialect, the work is also formally unique.

I have no personal experience of translating Japanese literature. I have, however, been involved in editing Japanese novels translated into Turkish, and through that experience I realized anew how frequently the subject is omitted from Japanese sentences. Translators must infer the subject from the verb, and distinguishing between first and third person in particular is sometimes difficult. It is often said that the perfect translation does not exist, and that any translation is, ultimately, an experiment, but if I ever have the opportunity to translate literature, I am determined to embrace the challenge of approaching perfection as closely as possible.

Photo of Filiz Yılmaz

Profiles

Nesibe Kaya

Nesibe Kaya is a research fellow and doctoral student at Burdur Mehmet Akif Ersoy University. She studied Japanese in 2017 at the JF Nihongo Network Kansai International Center (“Sakura Network”) and Japanese language pedagogy from 2018 to 2019 on the Japan Foundation’s Training Program for Teachers of the Japanese Language. She then visited Japan from 2021 to 2022 on a Japan Foundation Japanese Studies Fellowship. Her dissertation is titled Censored Literary Works of Japan’s Occupation Period (1945–1952) Considered from the Perspective of Literary Sociology. Using sources such as Sengo senryo tanpen shosetsu korekushon (Postwar Occupation Short Story Collection; edited by Terada Hiroshi, Kono Kensuke, and Kawasaki Kenko), she is looking at Japanese social conditions and how they developed after World War II, as reflected in censored Japanese literary works from the period of US occupation.

Filiz Yılmaz

Filiz Yılmaz is an assistant professor at Ankara University. She visited Japan in 2005 while a student at the same university, on an exchange program with Soka University. In 2008, she enrolled in the Graduate School of Library, Information and Media Studies, University of Tsukuba, on a MEXT scholarship. There she completed master’s and doctoral degrees in 2011 and 2017, respectively. After working at Foreign Service Training Institute of Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and for the Japanese branch of a Turkish corporation, she accepted a position as an assistant professor at Nevşehir Hacı Bektaş Veli University before taking up her current position teaching Japanese literature at Ankara University. She is interested in translating atomic-bomb literature such as Ibuse Masuji’s Kuroi ame [trans. Black Rain], Hara Tamiki’s Natsu no hana [trans. Summer Flower], Hayashi Kyoko’s Matsuri no ba [trans. Ritual of Death], and Inoue Hisashi’s Chichi to kuraseba [trans. The Face of Jizo].