July 2005
Film, TV and Publication Division
Japanese Literature in Translation Search
The Japan Foundation is pleased to announce the opening on the Japan Foundation website of a database of Japanese works of literature translated into other languages made possible through the cooperation of the Japan P.E.N. Club. This database is available free of charge to users all over the world at the following URL:
http://www.jpf.go.jp/cgi-bin/jlsearch/jlsearch.cgi
The data included thus far covers Japanese literary works translated into other languages mainly from the end of World War II to the 1990s and is searchable by author, title of work, translator, or other keywords (terms may be input in either Japanese or roman letters). The basic unit of the database is the work rather than the publication, so short stories are listed individually by their own titles rather than in the anthology in which they were originally included.
This bibliography/database is based mainly on the printed catalogs listed below, but reference has also been made to the databases of the National Institute of Informatics and information available via NACSIS Webcat. We are indebted to Guest Professor Fujino Yukio of the Faculty of Liberal Arts, Aichi University for his cooperation in the organization and presentation of the data.
Japanese Literature in Foreign Languages 1945-1995 (Japan P.E.N. Club)
Japanese Literature Today (Japan P.E.N. Club)
Index Translationum Cumulative Index since 1979 (UNESCO)
This database is by no means complete at this stage, and it is quite likely that important data has been omitted. As for works published from 2000 onward, as yet only a few are included. Especially with the many works that have been newly translated in recent years with the growing popularity of Japanese literature overseas, the Japan Foundation is keenly aware of the need to collect data on recent works as quickly as possible.
Arrangements are currently being considered with the Japan P.E.N. Club for the incorporation of this data. We look forward to your understanding of this ongoing endeavor and will be grateful to receive any corrections in the data already compiled as well as new data for inclusion. Please see below for contact information.
Attention:
Japanese Literature in Translation Search Database Staff in Charge
Film, TV and Publication Division
The Japan Foundation
E-mail:
Tel: 03-5562-3535; Fax: 03-5562-3500