Q: What got you started translating novels from Taiwan?

A: I started reading novels from Taiwan in the 1980s and ran across some works that were very important within the context of Taiwan literature, but there was nothing truly distinctive that set them apart from the literature of the West.

Then at a bookstore in Tokyo I happened to buy a mainland Chinese pirated version of The Butcher's Wife. I was very, very impressed to see such world-class literature coming out of Taiwan, and from that point I became very interested in Taiwanese literature.

Later I met the famous Sinologist Helmut Martin in Germany and learned that he had already translated The Butcher's Wife into German. It had sold 50,000 copies.

I met Li Ang for the first time while visiting Taiwan in the summer of 1990, and I went back the following year to interview her for an article. With her authorization, I began translating The Butcher's Wife. My translated version was published in Japan in 1993.

Q: What was the response to The Butcher's Wife in Japan? Are Japanese readers interested in contemporary literature from Taiwan?

A: The Butcher's Wife went through four printings in Japan, for a total of 6,000 copies. The only translation from Taiwan that has ever done better in Japan was Huang Chun-ming's Sayonara, Good-bye. That sold more than 10,000 copies. These numbers are very good for literature from Taiwan or mainland China.

The Butcher's Wife had a big impact on the Japanese feminist movement. One reviewer wrote that it offered penetrating insight into what lies at the heart of male-female relationships. And a woman critic wrote: "If I were a man, I would most certainly try to keep this book from being translated."

Japanese people today are becoming more and more interested in Taiwanese literature, primarily because of Taiwanese movies, which are very popular in Japan. Flicks like March of Happiness and Lament of the Sand River ran for a month or two at theaters. Movies directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien are very popular in Japan. It's easier to get hooked on a movie than a novel, so a lot of people will see a movie first and then go out and start buying novels.

Apart from the influence of movies, close business ties between Japan and Taiwan are another important factor. The Taiwanese are the second most frequent visitors to Japan, after Koreans.

Q: You've already translated two novels by Li Ang, The Butcher's Wife and The Strange Garden, and you're planning to do yet another, Autobiography: a Novel. Why are you especially interested in her works?

A: Li Ang herself describes these three novels as her "Taiwan trilogy." Autobiography: a Novel tells the tale of Hsieh Hsueh-hung, a woman born in 1901 who sought to free Taiwan from Japanese colonial rule and ended up fleeing the KMT government to spend the last two decades of her life in mainland China. The Butcher's Wife paints a portrait of life in Taiwan during the 1930s. The Strange Garden depicts one woman's life as it unfolded against the background of Taiwan's economic development in the 1970s and 80s. Translating Li Ang's Taiwan trilogy is a way of chronicling the development of Taiwan.

Q: What are the most difficult challenges for a translator? How do you overcome them?

A: I go to Taiwan once or twice pretty much every year in connection with my research on the phenomenon of Murakami Haruki's popularity there, so I'm fairly familiar with the place. The most difficult problem for me is when authors throw bits of Minnan or Hakka dialect into their writing. Also, Chinese as used in Taiwan is not completely the same as in mainland China, so I can't use my dictionaries from the mainland, but Chinese-Chinese dictionaries published in Taiwan aren't good enough.

When I run into problems I consult with Taiwanese people studying in Japan, and if they can't help me I just have to contact the author. I had to ask Li Ang over 50 questions while I was translating The Strange Garden.