Juliet Winters Carpenter (born 1948) is an American translator of modern Japanese literature. Born in the American

Midwest The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four Census Bureau Region, census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of ...

, she studied

Japanese literature Japanese literature throughout most of its history has been influenced by cultural contact with neighboring Asian literatures, most notably China and its literature. Early texts were often written in pure Classical Chinese or , a Chinese-Japanes ...

at the University of Michigan and the

Inter-University Center for Japanese Language Studies The , or IUC, is a Japanese language school located in the Minato Mirai area of Yokohama, Japan. Operated by a consortium of universities, the IUC provides advanced-level instruction to both undergraduate and graduate students and is considered ...

in Tokyo. After completing her graduate studies in 1973, she returned to Japan in 1975, where she became involved in translation efforts and teaching. Carpenter is a devotee of traditional Japanese music and is a licensed instructor of the

koto Koto may refer to: * Koto (band), an Italian synth pop group * Koto (instrument), a Japanese musical instrument * Koto (kana), a ligature of two Japanese katakana * Koto (traditional clothing), a traditional dress made by Afro-Surinamese women * ...

and

shamisen The , also known as the or (all meaning "three strings"), is a three-stringed traditional Japanese musical instrument derived from the Chinese instrument . It is played with a plectrum called a bachi. The Japanese pronunciation is usual ...

. She is professor emeritus at

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Women's College of Liberal Arts in Kyoto and has been involved in the Japanese Literature Publishing Project(JLPP), a government-supported project translating and publishing Japanese books overseas. Carpenter retired to Whidbey Island in Washington State with her husband Bruce, professor emeritus of Tezukayama University. They have three children
Matthew Edwin Carpenter
Graham, and Mark. Carpenter's translation of Abe Kobo's novel '' Secret Rendezvous'' (''Mikkai'' in Japanese) won the 1980 Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission Prize for the Translation of Japanese Literature. Her translation of Minae Mizumura's novel Honkaku Shosetsu, "A True Novel," won that same award for 2014-2015 and earned numerous other awards including the 2014 Lewis Galantière Award of the American Translators Association.

Once Upon a Time in Japan Once means a one-time occurrence. Once may refer to: Music * ''Once'' (Pearl Jam song), a 1991 song from the album ''Ten'' * ''Once'' (Roy Harper album), a 1990 album by Roy Harper * ''Once'' (The Tyde album), a 2001 debut album by The Tyd ...

, a book of folk tales which she co-translated with

Roger Pulvers Roger Pulvers (born 4 May 1944) is an Australian playwright, theatre director and translator. He has published more than 45 books in English and Japanese, from novels to essays, plays, poetry and translations. He has written prolifically for t ...

, received the 2015 Gelett Burgess Children's Book Award for Best Multicultural Book. Carpenter won the 2021-2022 Lindsey and Masao Miyoshi Translation Prize for a lifetime achievement as a translator of modern Japanese literature, with particular reference to her recent translation of Mizumura Minae’s ''An I-Novel'' (Columbia University Press, 2021) ''An I-Novel,'' translated by Carpenter, won the 2019-20 William F. Sibley Memorial Subvention Award for Japanese Translation. Her translation of The Great Passage by Miura Shion, an audio Book read by Brian Nishii, won the 2017 Golden Earphones Award. Selected works

Translations

Other works

Carpenter is also the author of the book ''Seeing Kyoto''.

References

Televised nostalgia in Japan: Those were the days

* ttps://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2009/01/11/books/blood-sweat-and-tears-of-zen/#.W-r8XKeZMWo The Asian Bookshelf by Donald Richie: Blood, sweat and tears of Zen
Strange Moors: 'A True Novel,' by Minae Mizumura
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carpenter, Juliet Winters 1948 births Living people American speculative fiction translators Japanese–English translators American expatriates in Japan Koto players University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts alumni Japanese literature academics American women writers 20th-century American translators 21st-century American translators 20th-century American women 21st-century American women