A brief history of interpreting and interpreter training in Japan since the 1960s

The period after the Meiji Restoration in 1868 had again been characterized by continuous efforts on the part of Japan to introduce culture and technology from Europe and the United States, although they were seriously disrupted in the period just before and during World War II. The fi rst occasion where the role of interpreters attracted attention after the war was the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, which was convened in Tokyo from May 1946 to April 1948. Thirty Japanese-English interpreters were engaged, but interpreting during this tribunal, unlike in Nuremburg Trials, was basically consecutive except occasional simultaneous reading of pre-translated documents such as the fi nal verdict (Komatsu, 2003).