We held an event entitled, “Seeing Japan from Outside: Translation, Perception, Imagination” through Zoom on June 12, 2020. Undergraduate students, who have registered for the Go Global Gateway program, were eligible to apply for this online event and many students participated in the event.
Event advert
https://www.u-tokyo.ac.jp/adm/go-gateway/en/200612.html
In this online event, Professor Toshiko Ellis (College of Arts and Sciences, UTokyo) encouraged the participants to think about Japanese literature from a global context and reflect on notions that we often take for granted, such as "Japan," "Japanese" and "Japanese language." Professor Ellis raised the following questions:
• Are the Japanese language and Japanese literature the sole “property” of Japanese people?
• What happens when we look at Japanese language not as a national language (kokugo) but as a foreign language (gaikokugo)?
• How does it feel to read Japanese literature in English?
The participants divided into small discussion groups and tried to translate some pieces of haiku from Japanese into English, but with great difficulty. They also exchanged their reflections on Professor Ellis’ talk.
Each group presented the way they translated the Japanese haiku works and Professor Ellis gave each of them feedback. Professor Ellis also answered questions asked by the students.
We are planning to hold similar events that are aimed at students who have registered for the Go Global Gateway program. Please join our future events!