ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book has been designed to illuminate the various ways in which the conception of Japan as a culture of translation can productively intervene in our understanding of – and approach to – both "Japan" and "translation." It draws our focus to "modern" Japan – a term somewhat loosely, but not without reason, applied to cover those aspects of Japanese culture that have apparently been affected by contact with the West. The book co-editors of a seminal volume on the intellectual history of translation in Japan – clearly support the view of kanbun kundoku as translation. It opens with two macroscopic views of translation. Modern Japan is a culture of translation. This simple proposition, long taken for granted among modern Japanese readers and writers, is now rapidly gaining momentum among Japan studies scholars working in English and other Western languages as well.
