- Tanja Nathanael
An Interview with Translator Takami Nieda
With this post we welcome Takami Nieda, translator of the award-winning debut novel by Chesil: The Color of the Sky is the Shape of the Heart (click here for a review of the novel). Nieda has translated more than ten works from Japanese into English and has received numerous grants in support of her translation work. Chesil’s novel, inspired by events in her own childhood, tells the story of Ginny, an ethnic Korean born in Japan, and her search for identity amidst pressures of prejudice, nationality, and injustice. The novel has received praise for shining a light on ethnic tensions that have received little attention until now.
We would like to extend our sincere thanks to Takami Nieda for participating in the interview and Alexa Wejko of Soho Books for arranging the interview and providing a review copy of Chesil’s novel.
Tanja Nathanael: How do you choose a book to translate? Are there specific characteristics you look for?
Takami Nieda: Like any other reader, I’m just looking for stories that nourish my soul in some way—stories that allow me to see myself in the world, stories that complicate my understanding of society, stories that elucidate a hard-won truth in a particularly dramatic or elegant way—and I find them in very different genres. One writer that I really admire is Colson Whitehead for how he reinvents himself with every book. He’s written a zombie novel, speculative fiction, historical novels; he’s even written a book on poker. I’m also in awe of the range of translations that Anton Hur has produced in the last couple of years. You get that sense that both of those writers, at the top of their game, are writing and translating whatever moves them without consideration to genre, and that’s probably how I’d like to carry on as a translator.
The bottom line is that I really have to love the work, because I’m going to spend two to three years to get it to publication.
How did you learn about Chesil’s The Color of the Sky is the Shape of the Heart? What elements appealed to you to make you wish to translate it?
The novel was nominated for the Akutagawa Prize, one of the top literary prizes in Japan. Among the nominees, this was the one that really stood out to me as one I wanted read and when I did, it was Ginny’s voice that I fell in love with first. At times, she’s incredibly lyrical and other times, she’s bristling with righteous anger at the injustices that none of the adults around her would confront, even though she, as a child, can plainly see them as wrong. I was also heart-stricken by how Ginny has to navigate the complexities of discrimination and injustice all alone, without anyone to help her or to validate her anger. It was clear to me that Chesil wrote the book, in part, to call out grownups for creating this world which is divided and tribal in ways that can be dangerous for girls like Ginny. So, while this book is marketed as a YA book, it’s also meant to be read by older readers.
When you first begin work on translating a text, is your first priority its artistry or its language? How do you balance the two?
The artistry is in the language.
Were there challenges specific to Chesil’s novel when translating it to English? Did you need to make any changes to the text to make it accessible to American or Western readers?
The constant challenge when I am working on anything is making sure that I am clarifying rather than over-explaining. Sometimes, the author might also be making language choices that invite readers to arrive at their own interpretations, and those seemingly vague bits need to be rendered intentionally, so that the translation allows for multiple ways of reading. Thankfully I was able to consult Chesil directly and we were able to work on those challenging bits together.
As a translator, I’m often expected to insert explanations of cultural references that American or Western readers may not understand. Other times, I might be asked to take out certain references that may seem un-PC because it may raise a red flag for English readers. We’re asked to make these concessions or accommodations for this so-called English reader that can be a disservice to the source text and its author. This practice also suggests that we don’t think very much of the English reader, if we’re assuming that they are monolingual and intolerant of stories that don’t reflect their culture or values. Increasingly, I find myself resisting adding anything too much to bridge cultural gaps unless it’s there in the source text. I translate what’s on the page and trust that curious readers will do the work to understand a cultural or historical reference they’re not familiar with.
Chesil’s protagonist Ginny Park is described as a Zainichi Korean, a term I am unfamiliar with. After reviewing several fairly long definitions on the internet, I am wondering how you would define Zainichi Korean for American or Western readers?
It specifically refers to the population of Koreans who remained in Japan after they were conscripted by the Japanese Empire during WWII. More broadly, the term has been used to refer to all Koreans living in Japan, which can be a bit misleading, as those immigrating after WWII do not have the same experiences as those who came as a result of colonial oppression. Some people reject the term altogether because “Zainichi” literally means “residing in Japan,” implying a temporary stay, even as there are third and fourth generations who identify as Korean Japanese or Japanese. For these reasons, it is important that each person have a say how they’d like to be identified.
In Chesil’s novel, Ginny battles prejudice and injustice as she crosses boundaries between countries, her personal family history, and her own increasingly complex identity as a Korean in Japan, and then Hawaii and Oregon. What is it about Ginny’s journey that you think readers will find universally relatable? What culturally and historically specific details do you think they will learn along the way?
At its core, the story is simply about a teen in search of belonging. As a Zainichi Korean born and raised in Japan, Ginny isn’t fully accepted at Japanese school because she’s Korean; and she isn’t fully accepted at the North Korean school because she’s not Korean enough. This sense of in-betweenness and that need for belonging is something that I’m certain many readers can identify with.
Ginny’s journey to find a place where she can call home can also be read as an allegory of the Korean diaspora as a result of Japanese imperialism. Whenever North Korea carries out a launch of their ballistic missiles, for example, ethnic Koreans living in Japan are vulnerable to hate crimes and harassment, and we see this happen to Ginny. So, readers will learn about how the legacy of past oppression can still be felt today by the Korean population, and the existence of Korean schools in Japan. On the other hand, the author doesn’t give any explanation about why Ginny’s grandfather lives in North Korea separated from his family or the complexities of citizenship status, perhaps inviting readers to do some research themselves. That’s one of the things that, as a teacher, I really love about this novel: it’s an immensely good read that opens the door for many teachable moments about Japan-Korea relations, prejudice, language, and identity.
Have you noticed any interest or increasing demand for children’s and young adult books from Japan and Korea? Do you have other recommendations in addition to Chesil’s book?
Here are 2 excellent resources:
Global Literature in Libraries Initiative features world literature from young readers and adults.
National Consortium of Teaching About Asia adjudicates the Freeman Book Award for outstanding literature about Asia for children and young adults.
And, here are my personal YA recs:
Go, by Kazuki Kaneshiro (trans. by me)
Almond, by Won-pyung Sohn (trans. by Sandy Joosun Lee)
Temple Alley Summer by Sachiko Kashiwaba (trans. by Avery Udagawa)
What suggestions do you have for encouraging interest in or access to translated books from countries outside of the U.S.?
Get everyone reading translated literature when they’re young! At 160+ pages, The Color of the Sky is the perfect length for the middle school and high school classroom. The beauty of translated literature is that it transports readers to other worlds, so they can experience many lives and perspectives other than their own.
What is next for you? Do you have any upcoming projects you’d like to tell us about?
I’m working on a novella of the Pacific War titled, Finger Bones by Hiroki Takahashi. It will be out sometime next year from Honford Star.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Chesil is a third-generation Korean born in Japan. She attended film school to study acting until she discovered a new passion for writing. She decided to mark the end of her twenties by writing a novel inspired by events during her childhood. That novel became her debut book, The Color of the Sky Is the Shape of the Heart. In 2016, she received the Gunzo New Writer’s Prize and was nominated for the Akutagawa Prize. In 2017, she won the Oda Sakunosuke Prize as well as the Ministry of Education’s Fine Art Award for a Debut Work.
Author photo: Kodansha/Naoto Otsubo
ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR: Takami Nieda was born in New York City and has degrees in English from Stanford University and Georgetown University. She has translated and edited more than twenty works of fiction and nonfiction from Japanese into English and has received numerous grants in support of her translations, including the PEN/Heim Translation Fund for the translation of Kazuki Kaneshiro’s GO. Her translations have also appeared in Words Without Borders, Asymptote, and PEN America. Formerly an assistant professor of translation at Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan, Nieda currently teaches writing and literature at Seattle Central College in Washington State.
Twitter: @TNieda
Translator photo: Adrianne Mathiowetz
ABOUT THE INTERVIEWER: Tanja Nathanael currently teaches Children’s Literature and Fantasy & Science Fiction Literature online for San Jose State University. An alumni of SJSU, she earned her Bachelor's in 2005 and Master's in 2010. She received her doctorate from the University of Southern Mississippi in 2019. Her study of international children’s literature has taken her to Iceland, Denmark, Germany, Austria, Poland, Sweden, England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. She formerly served on the international committee for the Children's Literature Association (2015-2018) and continues to support its goals as co-editor of the ChLA International Committee Blog to encourage interest in international children’s literature. She is currently co-editor of Global Children’s Literature in the College Classroom [in progress] with Dr. Sara Austin (Kentucky Wesleyan College) and a managing editor for Climate Literature in Education at ClimateLit.org. Her research examines borders and peripheries in children’s literature, climate literature, fantasy & science fiction literature, and nineteenth-century British literature.