What We Talk About When We Talk About Murakami Haruki’s Translators Towards a Translator-Centred Model of Literary Circulation

List of Contributors

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Why MURAKAMI?

Overview

References

1.     MURAKAMI's Translators in the Sinophone World: Their Societal Roles in the Reading Market, FUJII Shōzō. Translated by AKASHI Motoko and James Luke HADLEY

The Five Characteristics of Murakami's Reception in Sinophone Contexts

The Role of Translator LAI Ming Zhu in the Taiwanese Book Market

YE Hui and MURAKAMI's Reception in Hong Kong

MURAKAMI's Children of the Hong Kong Film Industry

Translator YE Hui's Role in the Commercially Driven Publishing Industry of Hong Kong

The Role of Translator LAI Ming Zhu in the Taiwanese Book Market

YE Hui and MURAKAMI's Reception in Hong Kong

MURAKAMI's Children of the Hong Kong Film Industry

Translator YE Hui's Role in the Commercially Driven Publishing Industry of Hong Kong

The Roles of LIN Shao-hua and SHI Xiaowei in the Formation of the Mainland Chinese Book Market

The 'Beautification', Mistranslations, and Omissions of MURAKAMI's Writing Style in LIN Shao-Hua's Translations

The Third Generation of MURAKAMI Reception and the Era of Copyright Competition Between Two Publishers

SHI Xiaowei: A Japanese-Chinese Comparative Cultural Critic Perspective

Conclusion

References

2.     Being MURAKAMI Haruki Translator in China Today, SHI Xiaowei. Translated by AKASHI Motoko and James Luke HADLEY

References

3.     The Translation and the Reception of MURAKAMI Haruki Literature in Thailand: Listening to the Voices of Thai Translators, Matana JATURASANGPAIROJ. Translated by AKASHI Motoko and James Luke HADLEY

The translator who reworks the 'voice' of the source author: Muthita PANICH (มุทิตา พานิช)

Involvement with MURAKAMI's work and translation processes

The environment surrounding the translator and their challenges

Translation as creative activity - the 'voice' that connects the author and the reader

The explorer of the 'voice', crosses languages, literature and audiovisual media

Practice as a writer and translator

The inheritance of 'the voice' through translating MURAKAMI Haruki's 納屋を焼く[Barn Burning]

From Translation to Research: My Engagement with MURAKAMI's Literature

Translating as a researcher

The link between translation and the sociological context: the issue of paternal presence in 1Q84

Conclusion

References

4.     My Commercial Role in Developing MURAKAMI Readerships in the Bengali-Speaking Community, Abhijit MUKHERJEE

My Process

Ideas as Examples

Conclusion

References

5.     Making Murakami Literature Available in Sinhala: The Role and Challenges of the Translators, Samanthika LOKUGAMAGE

Language

Translation and Retranslation

Murakami Literature Available to Sinhala readers

Murakami works that are available in Sinhala

Purpose of this study

Method

Content analysis

Translations of proper nouns

Translation of concepts

Conclusion

References

6.     The Long Journey to the Book Cover: The Visibility of MURAKAMI Haruki’s Translators in Russia, Elena BAIBIKOV

Historical Overview of Translators' Visibility in Russia

Translator Visibility in Russia in the twenty-first century

Translator Visibility and Publishing Practices in the Russian context

Translator (Not) Included: The Changing Credit Practices in MURAKAMI's Russian Editions

Translator Engagement in Visibility

The MURAKAMI Translator Community: A Question of Identity

Conclusion

References

7.     Bringing MURAKAMI Haruki into Italian: A Translator’s Perspective, Giorgio AMITRANO

Circuits of the Mind: MURAKAMI's Inner and Outer Worlds

Translation's Dual Edge: Loss and Gain

Translating a Translator

Literary translation in the age of social networks and e-commerce platforms

Instinct, Initiative, and Influence: Bringing the Translator out of the Shadow

References

8.     Translating MURAKAMI into a Minoritized European Language: The Case of Catalan, Albert NOLLA

The Catalan Language

Catalan Literary Market

Japanese Literature in Catalan

MURAKAMI in Catalan

MURAKAMI in Catalonia

Impact and Responsibility of Having my Career Associated with MURAKAMI

References

9.     Towards a Translator-Centred Model of Literary Circulation, AKASHI Motoko, Cristina BARROSO, Andrea BERGANTINO, and James Luke HADLEY

Engagement with the literary translation lifecycle framework

Translator Roles, Agency, and Self-Positioning

Interconnected Lifecycles and Transnational Circulation

Conclusions

References

Index

Biography

Motoko Akashi is Professor in Translation Studies in the Faculty of Foreign Language Studies at Kansai University, Osaka, Japan.

Cristina Barroso is a PhD candidate in Translation Studies at the Trinity Centre for Literary and Cultural Translation, Trinity College Dublin.

Andrea Bergantino was awarded his PhD in 2025 by Trinity College Dublin, where he has taught Italian language and culture, as well as on the MPhil in Literary Translation.

James Luke Hadley is Trinity College Dublin’s Ussher Associate Professor in Literary Translation, Director of the College’s MPhil in Literary Translation, and Director of the Trinity Centre for Literary and Cultural Translation.