TED GOOSSEN teaches Japanese literature and film at York University in Toronto. He is the editor of The Oxford Book of Japanese Short Stories. He translated Haruki Murakami’s Wind/Pinball and The Strange Library, and co-translated (with Philip Gabriel) Men Without Women and Killing Commendatore. His translations of Hiromi Kawakami’s People from My Neighbourhood (Granta Books) and Naoya Shiga’s Reconciliation (Canongate) were published in 2020.

MOTOYUKI SHIBATA translates American literature and runs the Japanese literary journal MONKEY. He has translated Paul Auster, Rebecca Brown, Stuart Dybek, Steve Erickson, Brian Evenson, Laird Hunt, Kelly Link, Steven Millhauser, and Richard Powers, among others. His translation of Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was a bestseller in Japan in 2018. Among his recent translations is Eric McCormack’s Cloud.

CONTENTS

Sea Horse, a story by Hiromi Kawakami

A woman hears an announcement on the radio that war has broken out, relatives arrive at her house seeking refuge, when the war ends they leave, then a civil war breaks out: a story by Tomoka Shibasaki

The Overcoat, a graphic story by Satoshi Kitamura

Hell, a story by Kikuko Tsumura

Seeing, a poem by Mieko Kawakami

The Decline of the Aliens + Sheep After Sheep, from City of Ears by Hideo Furukawa

----------------------------------------------------------------

Travel: A Monkey’s Dozen

The Dugong, a chapter from Takaoka’s Travels by Tatsuhiko Shibusawa

Jogging in Southern Europe, an essay by Haruki Murakami

Whale Leg, a story by Laird Hunt

Kurozuka: A Noh Play, from the modern Japanese translation by Seik¿ It¿

The Trail, a story by Eric McCormack

Five Modern Poets on Travel, selected and translated by Andrew Campana

It¿ Goes on a Road Trip, Making a Pilgrimage to Yuda Hot Springs, a chapter from The Thorn Puller by Hiromi It¿

Toad, a story by Barry Yourgrau

Every Reading, Every Sound, Every Sight, a travel essay by Jun’ichi Konuma

My First Trip, essays by Mikako Brady, Hirokazu Koreeda, Miwa Nishikawa, Yui Tanizaki, and Utamaru

A Report on Travel, a story by Brian Evenson

----------------------------------------------------------------

Along the Embankment, a story by Hiroko Oyamada

From the Northern Sea, a story by Yasunari Kawabata

The Lake, a story by Ky¿hei Sakaguchi

Cardboard Boxes and Their Uses, a story by Taki Monma

Flying Squirrels, an excerpt from a novella by Y¿ko Tsushima

The Most Boring Red on Earth, a story by Aoko Matsuda

I can't translate this! Remarks from twelve translators

Contributors

Credits