“Found in Translation” symposium took place from September 17-19, 2022, at Waseda University. The symposium was comprised of nine panels, five plenary lectures, two special lectures on Shakespeare in Japan, and a symposium/stage reading. Forty-two delegates who were of fifteen different nationalities congregated for the symposium. Also, a total of ninety-seven people attended the symposium during its three days. Among them were many undergraduate and graduate students who had much to gain by hearing about the research of both renown and early career academics.
The panels ranged from discussions about the use of translations for postcolonial ends, translation in the classroom, the works of particular translators, non-verbal means to translate meaning on the stage, ways in which Shakespeare is translated in young adult novels and films, the textual history of translations, how translation engages with the discourse of a particular region or society, the use of visual media to translate meaning, and the use of the female register in Japanese translations.
For the plenaries Professor Ton Hoenselaars (Utrecht University) examined surtitles as a means to convey meaning. The ways in which translations are added to the Asian Shakespeare Intercultural Archive was the focus of Dr. Li Lan Yong (National University of Singapore) ’s lecture. Dr. Jessica Chiba (University of Birmingham) spoke about lines that are impossible to translate into Japanese and what they reveal about Shakespeare’s text. Ms. Kazuko Matsuoka fascinated the delegates as she described the way in which she translates Shakespeare, and Professor Shoichiro Kawai (University of Tokyo) spoke about the importance of sound in his translations. The special lectures by Professors Daniel Gallimore (Kwansei Gakuin University) and Ryuichi Kodama (Waseda University) respectively looked at the use of interjections in Tsubouchi’s translations and how kabuki traditions shape meaning in twentieth century productions of Shakespeare in Japan.
The stage reading featured excerpts from the Tokyo Shakespeare Company’s The Three Daughters of Lear, Kazuko Matsuoka’s Hamlet, the Theatre Company Kakushinhan’s Hamlet x Shibuya, and the Shakespeare Company Japan’s The New Romeo and Juliet; the first three were read in English, the last in a combination of Scottish English and the Tohoku dialect. This was followed by a roundtable talk in which the heads of the three theater companies discussed why they use certain translations or what it is they are translating when they create their own translations. The symposium/reading offered the delegates an understanding of translation from the point of view of theater practitioners.
The symposium was preceded by an optional trip to see Ms. Matsuoka’s translation staged in the Saitama Art’s Theatre’s production of Henry VIII and followed by a likewise optional visit to the Nissay Theater to watch Nakamura Shikan VIII perform in Professor’s Kawai’s version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
The symposium was another triumph for the Birmingham / Waseda research collaboration that began in 2016. While Professor Michael Dobson (University of Birmingham), Director of the Shakespeare Institute, had to cancel his trip the very last minute, Deputy Director Tiffany Stern (University of Birmingham) opened and closed the three-day symposium, along with Professor Hironori Kasahara and Professor Norimasa Morita (Waseda University).
In the end, what this symposium produced was not just a fruitful exchange of ideas and insightful discussions about the potential translation has in paving the way for the future of Shakespeare studies; it also led to new, and hopefully long-lasting friendships between the delegates, which is just as important for the advancement of Shakespeare studies.
(Report written by Prof. Tetsuhito Motoyama)
Please click here for the event movies.
Event Details
- Date and Time
September 17, 13:00 – 17:00 Opening address, Plenary, Parallel panels
September 18, 9:00 – 17:30 Plenary, Parallel panels
September 19, 9:00 – 18:00 Plenary, Parallel panels - Venue: Komatsu hall, 121 Bldg. Waseda University/Okuma Lecture Hall
- Language: English
- Participant: Student, faculty and public
- Free and open to the public
