5 - 6 March 2009
Organized by Asia Research Institute and the Department of Malay Studies, National University of Singapore at the ARI Seminar Room, Tower Block, Level 10,
Japan Image-Shifting through Translation in Southeast Asia: The Toyota Foundation “Know Your Neighbor Translation-Publication” Program
Institute for the Study of Global Issues
Graduate School of
Abstract
In this global information age the concept of power has broadened to encompass soft as well as hard power. Soft power is expressed through sharing rather than hoarding information (Nye 2004). Clearly, language plays a key role in the sharing of information between countries with different languages.
Japan has long used translation to pursue its goals, for example westernization and modernization during the Meiji era (1868-1912). Today, people throughout Asia, and much of the rest of the world, celebrate Japanese cultural products as expressions of a popular culture with an identity distinct from those of the United States or other Western countries. But since World War II, Japan has also faced hatred from countries that were victims of the war. One part of the effort to change Japan’s image in the eyes of countries formerly occupied by Japan has been the use of philanthropy by private Japanese organizations.
This paper will focus on one such case of private philanthropy in the cause of Japanese soft power, the efforts by the Toyota Foundation to support translation. This paper first establishes the historical background to Japanese efforts at image-shifting in Southeast Asia. The paper then discusses the history of translation in Japan and how Japan uses translation as a tool of foreign policy. The paper then describes the Toyota Foundation and its “Know Your Neighbor Translation-Publication” Program together with the experience of one participating publisher Mekong, before drawing some conclusions.
Biography
Graduated from Faculty of Social and Political Science,
Japan’s role in globalizing Asia has been widely recognized. Ever since the 1990's, Japan has been exporting waves of it's cultural products such as anime or animated films, television dramas, music, manga or comics, novels, and so on. These spreads of cultural products across the borders of Asia have sprung new hope for Japan's relationship with other Asian countries. Through the consumption of Japan's cultural products, it can promote cultural dialogue, and hopefully Japan can overcome its unfortunate history with the rest of Asia, especially regarding to the World War II.
The novel revolves around the life story of a half-Dutch half-Indonesian woman, Dewi Ayu, from the end of Dutch’s colonial rule to the Japan’s invasion (1942-1945), up until the era of communist revolution in Indonesia (1960s). One of the turning points of her story was the time she was forced to become a comfort woman for the Japan Imperial Army. As a piece of historical fiction, this work has been received widely in Indonesia.
This study wishes to show some samples of the author's observations, and analyses about how Japan is portrayed by the novel (both the original and translated versions), and, through the consumption of this novel in the Japanese market, whether this can be seen as a sign for Japan's willingness for self-reflection about its past.Indah S. Pratidina
Research student, Institute for the Study of Global Issues, Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo, Japan
Presented in
Media Culture and Industry in Asia (MCIA), Hallym University, Seoul-Chuncheon, South Korea http://www.hallym.ac.kr/~icat/200711/ November 16, 2007