Born and raised in Los Angeles, I studied philosophy at U.C Berkeley and Japanese Literature and Linguistics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Where has the time gone?
I spent twenty-something years in Japan, Hong Kong, and Taiwan where I worked as a freelance translator and sometimes writer and student of Tea. Now, back in LA, I still love traveling –though mostly in my imagination via books, art and music. I write a monthly column at the arts and science blog 3 Quarks Daily. I began writing at 3 Quarks Daily after winning a writing contest at the blog, judged by Gish Jen.
I am also a long-time contributor for an award-winning literary magazine Kyoto Journal.
My creative writing has also appeared in Entropy, River Teeth/Beautiful Things, Hedgehog Review, the Pasadena Star newspaper, the Ekprastic Review, etc. Forthcoming in Pleiades Magazine, Gulf Coast Magazine, Ekstasis Magazine, and the Dillydoun Review.
My short story "Bare Bones" won the 2020 Calvino Prize, judged by Joyce Carol Oates.
Flash Fiction in Kairos Magazine "Fugue State" and "Mango Pudding"
Book reviews in the Dublin Review of Books, the Asian Review of Books, Kyoto Journal, and The New Ramble--translated into Chinese for Rujiawang. Forthcoming in Chicago Review of Books.
In summer 2021, I will have earned my Certificate in Creative Writing from UCLA Extension.
Writing Highlights
Kyoto Journal Silk Roads Special Issue 74 (I was the guest editor and contributed several articles)
A Painter Crawling Toward God, Hedgehog Review
Portals to Heaven, Entropy magazine
The Heart Of The Matter: Translating The Heart Sutra (Kyoto Journal and Reprinted at 3 Quarks Daily)
Arts of Asia Cover Article: Mashiko Pottery Village Revisited
Flash Essays at River Teeth Beautiful Things
Victorious Youth
a Sonnet in the Fibonacci Sequence+
I previously blogged the Tang Dynasty Times.
The blog is included in the educational links on the British Libraries' Dunhuang Project website and the IDP blog; as well as to various history blogs, including Frog in a Well.
A Translator Gets Translated
In 2012, I was invited to a conference in Shanghai:
Rethinking City and Identity 反思城市与身份认同 Institute of Arts and HumanitiesShanghai Jiao Tong University 上海交通大学 人文艺术研究院 Shanghai, 16-18 May ( Download Conference Program (1) - Copy)
Various academics and media people presented papers on the spirit of a particular city. I spoke on Tokyo, a city where I lived for ten years, before moving to my beloved Tochigi for another twelve years.
It was a lot of fun--and I loved meeting new friends and seeing Shanghai. I also realized how daunting and hard it is to give an academic paper at a conference. It was pretty humbling since I was awful.
The good news was our papers were translated into Chinese and yesterday the book arrived in the mail. What a surprise!
I thought I would upload my paper draft in case anyone was interested. (the biographical blurb was not written by me).
Translation
Academic/ Literary/ Art/ Cultural
Academic papers for publication in literature, art & philosophy (Hiroshima University, Toyo University; etc.); archive material translations for Oriental Library's Silk Road Project (translations/editing); novel translation; museum catalog for children's book illustrations art exhibition; script for video series on UNESCO World Heritage Sites, etc. Translations (in progress) of "The Great China" series of documentary videos used as part of Japan Airlines' in-flight entertainment etc.; Japan Foreign Press Center book translation, Japan Inside Out; etc. SBI Art Folio Auction (auction catalog essays)
Poetry
My poetry translations have focused on academic article about haiku and tanka, including translations of the poetry itself, as well as articles and poetry translations for the International Haiku Magazine "Ginyu."
My main area of interest is in the modern poet Takamura Kotaro. I have been working on a new translation (with Sam Hamill) of his Chieko Poems.
Chieko Poetry Poetry Translation Selections:
University of Iowa's Literary Translation Journal Exchanges: Spring 2019
and
University of Western Michigan's Literary Translation Journal Transference (Peer Reviewed)
Also a poem included in Barbara Abercrombie's Language of Loss