otaku nerd or geek often obsessed with anime or manga or trains
otenba tomboy
otosan father
oyaji old man
purikura short for Print Club, meaning photo stickers
sake rice-based alcoholic beverage
sakura cherry blossom, cherry tree
salariman businessman
-san suffix for a name
sanma Pacific saury, mackerel pike
sayonara good-bye
senpai one’s senior at work or school
SELHi Super English Language High School, a type of Japanese school in which some of the curriculum is taught in English
shamisen Japanese three-stringed musical instrument
shirabyoshi a style of court dance dating from Japan’s Heian era; the dancers of that style of dance
shitteru do you know?; I know
shizuka quiet, peaceful
shogi Japanese chess
shoji paper and wood lattice sliding door
sugoi amazing, great
sumimasen excuse me, sorry
tabi traditional Japanese split-toed socks
tadaima words spoken on returning home
taiko traditional Japanese drum (odaiko is a large taiko drum)
taiyaki a fish-shaped batter cake filled with sweet azuki beans or custard
tanuki Japanese raccoon dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides viverrinus), portrayed as a trickster and shape shifter in Japanese tales
Takeshita-dori Takeshita Street—a trendy street in the Harajuku area of Tokyo
torii gate to a shrine
udon a thick type of noodle
umeboshi sour pickled plum
urusai/urusakatta is/was noisy, annoying
wan-chan dog or doggy
wan wan a dog’s bark
warashi child
yakuza members of Japanese organized crime groups
yama no kami mountain spirit
Yamanote Line circular or loop train line that runs through Tokyo
yamete stop it
yokai supernatural ghosts or spirits
yoroshiku greeting similar to hello, hi; yoroshiku onegai shimasu more formal—nice to meet you
yukata lightweight, cotton kimono often worn in summer at festivals
yukar traditional Ainu tale
zashiki warashi a Japanese yokai that appears as a child
zori a type of flat, thonged sandal; dressy zori are worn with kimono
Contributors
Naoko Awa (1943–93, author, “Blue Shells”) was born in Tokyo and lived in different parts of Japan. As a child, she read fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, and Wilhelm Hauff as well as The Arabian Nights. She published numerous books, including Kaze to ki no uta (Song of the Wind and Tree) and Hanamame no nieru made (While the Beans Are Cooking). A collection of her short stories translated into English, The Fox’s Window and Other Stories, was published in 2010.
Deni Y. Béchard (author, “Half Life”) is the Canadian-American author of Vandal Love, which won the 2007 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. Cures for Hunger, his memoir about growing up with a father who was a bank robber, is forthcoming in 2012, and in 2013 he will publish Empty Hands, Open Arms, a book about conservationism in the Congo rain forest. He has lived in Japan off and on since 2009. www.denibechard.com
Jennifer Fumiko Cahill (author, “Paper Lanterns”) is a graduate of Columbia University’s MFA writing program. She often visited Japan as a child and has lived in Tokyo for ten years with her husband and two children. Her poems have appeared in The Southern Review, Greensboro Review, Prairie Schooner, and The Southeast Review.
Juliet Winters Carpenter (translator, “Fleecy Clouds”), a Midwesterner by birth, is a longtime resident of Japan. Her many translations include mysteries, romance novels, haiku and tanka poetry, historical fiction, and works on Buddhist philosophy. Volume one of Saka no ue no kumo (tentative title: Clouds Above the Hill), her joint translation of Ryotaro Shiba’s epic on the Russo-Japanese War, is forthcoming from Routledge in 2012. She lives in Kyoto, where she is a professor at Doshisha Women’s College, and on Whidbey Island, Washington. www.swet.jp/ index.php/people/juliet-winters-carpenter
John Paul Catton (author, “Staring at the Haiku”) is a British writer who has lived in Japan for fifteen years. He teaches at an international school in West Tokyo and is studying for an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Canberra. Japanese myths, folktales, and urban legends are a major influence on his work.
Yukie Chiri (1903–22, transcriber/translator, “Where the Silver Droplets Fall”) was a linguistically gifted Ainu girl raised in a time of decline for the Ainu language and culture. She was in her mid-teens when she began preserving some of the yukar (epic tales) of Ainu oral tradition, transcribing them and translating them into Japanese. She died of heart failure at age nineteen, leaving behind an anthology of fourteen yukar published posthumously as Ainu shin’yoshu (Collected Tales of the Ainu Gods).
Chloë Dalby (author, “The Mountain Drum”) studies Comparative Literature and Japanese at Oberlin College. She builds taiko drums in her spare time. She recently returned from a semester abroad at Kansai Gaikoku Daigaku where she studied obake and yokai.
Liza Dalby (author, “Shuya’s Commute”) is a cultural anthropologist and writer whose career has focused on Japan in nonfiction (Geisha, Kimono), fiction (The Tale of Murasaki, Hidden Buddhas) and a memoir (East Wind Melts the Ice). www.lizadalby.com
Deborah Davidson (translator-illustrator, “Where the Silver Droplets Fall”) was born and raised in Japan, going on to earn a BA in Asian Studies and an MA in Advanced Japanese Studies from US and UK universities. Since retiring from a thirty-year career in Japanese-to-English translating, she has settled into a second career in the world of Japanese folk art. She resides in Sapporo, Japan. Her published translations include the works of novelist Miura Ayako and Ainu folklore. http://etegamibydosankodebbie.blogspot.com
Claire Dawn (author, “Ichinichi on the Yamanote”) grew up on the Caribbean island of Barbados. She has been teaching English as a foreign language in Ichinohe, Iwate Prefecture, for three years. In her spare time, Claire writes young adult novels. Her work can also be found in the Write for Tohoku anthology. http://aclairedawn.blogspot.com
Charles De Wolf (author, “Borne by the Wind”), Professor Emeritus, Keio University, is a writer, linguist, and translator of Japanese literature, both classical and modern. His translations include numerous stories from Konjaku monogatari, a twelfth-century folktale collection, excerpts from The Tale of Genji, and works by Ryunosuke Akutagawa, Hyakken Uchida, Keizo Hino, Ryu Murakami, Haruki Murakami, and Akiko Itoyama. He has spent most of his life in Japan. www.sudaroan.com
Megumi Fujino (author, “Love Letter”) is an Osaka-based author of children’s and young adult literature, mysteries, and romance fiction. Her debut work, Neko mata yokaiden (The Story of the Nekomata Monster) was published in 2004. She is the author of the ongoing “Thief of Phantom and Darkness” series and recently of Watashi no koibito (My Boyfriend). home.att.ne.jp/apple/mogmog/
Andrew Fukuda (author, “Lost”), born in Manhattan and raised in Hong Kong, is half Chinese, half Japanese. After graduating from Cornell University, he worked in Manhattan’s Chinatown. Author of the novel Crossing and the forthcoming The Hunt, he lived and worked in Kansai for several years and currently resides in New York. www.andrewfukuda.com
Alan Gratz (author, “The Ghost Who Came to Breakfast”) is the author of a number of books for young readers, including Samurai Shortstop. His short fiction has appeared in Knoxville’s Metropulse magazine, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, and the middle-grade anthology Half-Minute Horrors. He spent two months in Tokyo in 2010 teaching historical fiction writing at the American School in Japan. www.alangratz.com
Katrina Toshiko Grigg-Saito (author, “I Hate Harajuku Girls”) grew up knowing Japan through her father’s stories. Her essays and travel adventures about Japan and places all ov
er the world have been seen in two National Geographic anthologies, the Christian Science Monitor, NPR, CNN-go, The Japan Times, Skirt Magazine, Metropolis Magazine, and Tokyo Art Beat. Her first children’s book, Ma, The Search for Silence, is soon to be published by Little, Brown and Company. http://beinginlovethere.com
Sako Ikegami (translator, “Hachiro”) can lay claim to various titles (clinical pharmacist, medical translator/writer, children’s book reader), but best enjoys working with young adult books. She aspires to bridge her two cultures, US and Japanese, by translating children’s literature in both. Her translations include Ryusuke Saito’s The Tree of Courage and Angela Johnson’s First Part Last. www.sakotrans.com
Deborah Iwabuchi (translator, “The Law of Gravity”) made her first trip to Japan at age seventeen and took up permanent residence soon after college. She has translated, among other works, novels by popular Japanese authors, including The Devil’s Whisper and The Sleeping Dragon by Miyuki Miyabe. Originally from California, she lives in the city of Maebashi with her family and runs her own company, Minamimuki Translations. http://minamimuki.com/en
Suzanne Kamata (author, “Peace on Earth”) is the author of the novel Losing Kei and editor of three anthologies, including The Broken Bridge: Fiction from Expatriates in Literary Japan. Her short stories for young adults have appeared in Cicada and Hunger Mountain, and she is the recipient of an SCBWI Magazine Merit Award for Fiction. She has lived in Shikoku for over twenty years. www.suzannekamata.com
Toshiya Kamei (translator, “Blue Shells”) holds an MFA in Literary Translation from the University of Arkansas, where he was the 2006–2007 Carolyn Walton Fellow in Translation. His translations include Liliana Blum’s The Curse of Eve and Other Stories, Naoko Awa’s The Fox’s Window and Other Stories, Leticia Luna’s Wounded Days, and Espido Freire’s Irlanda. Other translations have appeared in The Global Game, Sudden Fiction Latino, and My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me.
Sachiko Kashiwaba (author, “House of Trust”) is a prolific writer of children’s and young adult fantasy whose career spans more than three decades. Her works have garnered the prestigious Sankei Children’s Book Award and Shogakukan Children’s Book Award, among many others, and her novel Kiri no muko no fushigi na machi (The Marvelous Village Veiled in Mist) influenced Hayao Miyazaki’s film Spirited Away. She has translated two fairy novels by Gail Carson Levine into Japanese. She lives in Iwate Prefecture.
Yuko Katakawa (author, “The Law of Gravity”), the author of six books, received a Kodansha New Writer in Children’s Literature Award for her first publication, Sato-san, written when she was fifteen. Now in university, she continues to write while studying to become a veterinarian. “The Law of Gravity” is revised from a story she first wrote at age fourteen.
Trevor Kew (author, “The Bridge to Lillooet”) has lived in Yokohama for three years, teaching Japanese and traveling extensively throughout the country. He teaches at Yokohama International School and is the author of three novels for children: Trading Goals, Sidelined, and Breakaway. “The Bridge to Lillooet” was partially inspired by the excellent Canadian NFB documentary Sleeping Tigers. www.trevorkew.com
Yuichi Kimura (author, “Wings on the Wind”) was born in Tokyo, graduated from Tama Art University, and worked on children’s magazines and TV programs before turning to writing. His picture book series Arashi no yoru ni (One Stormy Night) has won multiple book awards. His creations, comprising more than five hundred titles for children of all ages, are enjoyed around the world. www.kimura-yuuichi.com
Louise George Kittaka (author, “Just Wan-derful”) is a New Zealander living in Tokyo with her family and three cats. She is a freelance writer and editor for educational publishing, and also works with teens with special learning needs. She has co-authored two parenting books in Japanese about using English with young children. www.mamabaka.com
Hart Larrabee (translator, “Anton and Kiyohime”) was born in New York State, majored in Japanese at Carleton College in Minnesota, and earned postgraduate degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and University of Hawaii. A full-time freelance translator, he currently lives with his family in Nagano Prefecture.
Misa Dikengil Lindberg (translator, “The Dragon and the Poet”) grew up in a bicultural (Japanese-Turkish) home in New Jersey and has lived in both the United States and Japan. She was first drawn to translation studies while teaching at a bilingual Japanese-English school, where she fell in love with Japanese children’s literature. She currently writes, edits, translates, and teaches in Vermont.
Leza Lowitz (co-author, “Jet Black and the Ninja Wind”) is an award-winning writer and yoga instructor. Her work has appeared in The Huffington Post, Shambhala Sun, and Best Buddhist Writing of 2011. She has published more than sixteen books, most recently Yoga Heart: Lines on the Six Perfections. www.lezalowitz.com
Kelly Luce (“Yamada-san’s Toaster”) participated in the JET Program in Kawasaki and spent two years in Tokushima City. Her collection of Japan-set stories received the San Francisco Foundation’s 2008 Jackson Award and was a finalist for the 2010 Bakeless Prize. Her work has recently appeared in The Southern Review, American Short Fiction, and The Kenyon Review. thecrazypetesblotter.blogspot.com
Thersa Matsuura (author, “The Zodiac Tree”) is a longtime resident of Shizuoka, Japan, where she lives with her husband, her son and various dogs, cats and newts. Her collection of dark, mythical short stories (A Robe of Feathers and Other Stories) was published by Counterpoint LLC. www.thersamatsuura.com
Kenji Miyazawa (1896–1933, author, “The Dragon and the Poet”), one of Japan’s most beloved writers, was born in Hanamaki City in Iwate Prefecture. Miyazawa’s life and works were greatly influenced by his passion for nature, science, and Buddhism. In addition to writing poetry and literature, he devoted much of his life to helping improve the lives of Iwate’s rural farmers.
Mariko Nagai (author, “Half a Heart”) was born in Japan but writes in English, having grown up in the United States and Europe. The author of two books for adults, Histories of Bodies: Poems and Georgic: Stories, she has won numerous awards and fellowships from art foundations around the world for her writing. Her work has appeared in Asia Literary Review, Foreign Policy, Southern Humanities Review, New Letters, and Prairie Schooner, to name a few. She lives in Tokyo. www.mariko-nagai.com
Marji Napper (author, “The Lost Property Office”) is a teacher and language consultant for businesses in Tokyo. She has a deep interest in children’s literature. She has worked in high schools and colleges in the UK and in language schools in Italy and Japan.
Arie Nashiya (author, “Fleecy Clouds”) was born in Tochigi Prefecture. She began her writing career with the novel Deribarii age (Delivery Age), which won the 39th Kodansha Children’s Literature Newcomer Prize in 1998. Her novel Pianisshishimo (Pianississimo) was awarded the 33rd Japan Children’s Literature Bungei Kyokai Newcomer Prize. Among her best-known other works are the novel Surii sutazu (Three Stars) and the short story collection Shabondama domei (The Bubble League).
Sarah Wittenbrink Ogawa (author, “One”) has been teaching English and creative writing in Japan for twenty years, while also working in journalism and television. Her aspirations to become a senior high homeroom teacher at a Japanese school were fulfilled fifteen years ago, and her students continue to inspire her every day. www.kyotosarah.com.
Debbie Ridpath Ohi (author-illustrator, “Kodama”) is a Japanese-Canadian writer and artist. She is the illustrator of the picture book I’m Bored and also the artist-in-residence at TorontoToJapan.ca, a Toronto-based fund-raising collective. Debbie writes and illustrates books for young people. DebbieOhi.com
Shogo Oketani (co-author, “Jet Black and the Ninja Wind”) is author of J-Boys: Kazuo’s World, Tokyo, 1965 (translated by Avery Fischer Udagawa) and Designing with Kanji, and is co-translator of America by Ayukawa Nobuo, for which he received the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission Award. He lives in Tokyo where he works as an editor
and self-defense instructor. www.j-boysbook.com
Lynne E. Riggs (translator, “Love Letter”) is a professional translator based in Tokyo. She is an active member of the Society of Writers, Editors, and Translators and teaches Japanese-to-English translation at International Christian University. Her fiction translations include Kiki’s Delivery Service by Eiko Kadono and School of Freedom by Shishi Bunroku. www.cichonyaku.com
Ryusuke Saito (1917–85, author, “Hachiro”) wrote original folktales rife with onomatopoeia in the musical cadence of the Akita dialect. In collaboration with his lifelong illustrator Jiro Takidaira, his award-winning short stories became classic picture books. Although a native of Tokyo, Saito fell in love with Tohoku and its people, as evidenced in his stories. His books include The Tree of Courage and The Mountain of Flowers.
Graham Salisbury (author, “Bad Day for Baseball”) grew up on Oahu and Hawaii. He received an MFA from Vermont College of Norwich University, where he was a member of the founding faculty of the MFA program in writing for children. He lives with his family in Oregon. His books, including Eyes of the Emperor and Under the Blood Red Sun, have garnered many prizes. www.grahamsalisbury.com
John Shelley (illustrator, cover and part-title art) began his illustration career in London before an interest in Japanese art took him to Tokyo, where he lived for over twenty years. He has illustrated more than forty children’s books for both Western and Japanese markets. Now based once more in the UK, he continues to produce illustrations for global markets. www.jshelley.com
Ann Tashi Slater (author, “Aftershocks”) earned an MFA in creative writing at the University of Michigan and a BA in comparative literature at Princeton. Her stories have appeared in Shenandoah, Gulf Coast, Painted Bride Quarterly, and American Dragons (HarperCollins). Her translation of a Cuban novella was published in Old Rosa: A Novel in Two Stories (Grove). A longtime resident of Japan, she teaches American Literature at Japan Women’s University. anntashislater.wordpress.com
Alexander O. Smith (translator, “Wings on the Wind”) has been translating video games and novels from Japanese to English since graduating from Harvard University with an M.A. in Classical Japanese Literature in 1998. He is the founder of Kajiya Productions Inc. and is now based in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom. He received the ALA Batchelder Award for Brave Story (Miyuki Miyabe) and the Phillip K. Dick Special Citation for Harmony (Project Itoh). www.kajiyaproductions.com
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