What Translators Don’t Tell You When Translating Haruki Murakami：A Textual Analysis of Jay Rubin’s English Versions of “The Elephant Vanishes”

HAYASHI, Keisuke

doi:2025.20.1.131

The Journal of Japanese Language Literature Studies > Volume 20(1); 2025 > Article

Article

Border Crossings: The Journal of Japanese-Language Literature Studies 2025;20(1): 131-147.
doi: https://doi.org/10.22628/bcjjl.2025.20.1.131

What Translators Don’t Tell You When Translating Haruki Murakami：A Textual Analysis of Jay Rubin’s English Versions of “The Elephant Vanishes”

Keisuke HAYASHI

Teacher, Hosei University Junior and Senior High School

Haruki Murakamiについて訳すときに翻訳者が語らないこと ―― ｢象の消滅｣をめぐって

林圭介

法政大学中学高等学校教諭

Correspondence Keisuke HAYASHI ,Email: keisukeh@toki.waseda.jp

Published online: 30 June 2025.

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

ABSTRACT

This paper examines Jay Rubin’s engagement with the Japanese language not only as a translator of Haruki Murakami but also as a language teacher, focusing on his textbook Gone Fishin’ (1992), later revised as Making Sense of Japanese：What the Textbooks Don’t Tell You (1998). While Rubin is widely known for his English translations - especially The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (1997) - and his critical biography Haruki Murakami and the Music of Words (2002), his pedagogical work has received little attention in literary studies. This article situates Rubin’s textbook in the context of world literature and translation studies, examining how his use of alternative Japanese version of Murakami’s short story “The Elephant Vanishes” serves as a tool for both language teaching and literary interpretation. By analysing the interplay between Rubin’s pedagogical aims and his translational choices, the study argues that his translations reflect the sensibilities of a language teacher attuned to the complexities of cross-cultural reading. Rubin’s work implicitly advances Murakam’s project of situating Japanese literature within a global literary framework, demonstrating how translation can function as a critical site of literary and cultural negotiation. Ultimately, the paper highlights the translator’s dual function as a mediator and educator within the transnational circulation of contemporary Japanese fiction.

Keywords: Haruki Murakami, World literature, Jay Rubin, “The Elephant Vanishes”, Japanese language teacher

キ―ワ―ド: 村上春樹, 世界文学, ジェイ･ルービン, ｢象の消滅｣, 日本語教師