Jul 20, 2004

"The First Landing of Ayn Rand in Japan!"

by Liberty and Power

In a Not a Blog Exclusive, I take a look at the publication of the Japanese translation of The Fountainhead. As I explain in the essay, I was approached by Kayoko Fujimori, who was translating Rand's 1943 classic, to help explain certain idiomatic expressions that might facilitate the Japanese translation.

The publication of this volume is interesting on many levels. For fans of great illustrators, the cover art is by Nobuyuki Ohnishi, a Japanese artist famous for his anime works. And for those who see an essential opposition between Ayn Rand and neoconservatism, there is this information reproduced in the promotional"blue belt" enveloping the book:

Ayn Rand is the fountainhead of Libertarianism, a grass-roots American people's philosophy that stands against the Neo-Conservative.

I swear: I had absolutely nothing to do with that. Apparently, many Japanese readers are interested in the globalist implications of neoconservatism, so anything suggesting opposition to it is a selling point.

Read the whole essay here.

More Comments:

Chris Matthew Sciabarra - 7/21/2004

Jonathan, I ~wish~ I knew the answers to all your curiosities. But I ~am~ curious about the pronunciation of my name... I may have to speak to my Japanese neighbors about this!

Jonathan Dresner - 7/21/2004

I'm surprised that Rand had not been translated before: Japanese are voracious readers, particularly of political theory, though libertarianism isn't inclined to appeal immediately to conventional Japanese tastes. I would think Rand's novels would, though, and the Japanese love individualism in their heroes, to some extent, anyway.

I can't quite make out the Japanese on the scan of your acknowledgement, or I would tell you how your name sounds in Japanese: mine is 'Jonasan Dorezunaa.'

At some point I'll have to find out what the Japanese take on neo-conservativism is: they're big conspiracy theory buffs, particularly ones involving Jews....