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 the Japanese translation of GEB
 			a short description by TANAKA Tomoyuki
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 since Hofstadter doesn't mention the Japanese translation of
 GEB in "Le Ton beau de Marot" or in any other book, i'll say a
 few words about the J. GEB here.

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 the first GEB translation to be published
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 published in 1985, the Jp GEB was the first of the GEB
 translations to be published (with the possible exception of
 the bootleg/abridged Chinese version).

 of course, being the first by itself is no big deal.
 what matters is the quality.  i can see how a super-careful
 translation of GEB into a European language can easily take 10
 man-years, and into an Asian language 100 man-years.

 when the Jp GEB came out, it was uniformly and enthusiastically
 praised in all book reviews.  Prof Wada (U. Tokyo) described it
 as a "classic translation of a classic book".  i agree with
 that assessment.

 above all, i was most impressed with what Prof Yanase had done
 with the dialogues.  some of them seem like miracles, and it is
 a shame that Hofstadter has no knowledge of Jp language/culture
 so he won't be able to enjoy Prof Yanase's dialogues.

 throughout the translation process Prof Hayashi kept saying
 that he may not be able to translate all the puns on a
 one-to-one basis, but instead he'll try to match the original
 in the total *number* of puns.  this, i believe, is exactly the
 right attitude in translating a book like GEB.  he did invent a
 lot of puns where none existed in the original.  it was such a
 thrill to see the spirit of the book recreated in another form
 (i.e., in Japanese).

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 the 3-man Jp GEB translation team
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 Jp GEB translation team:  Profs Nozaki, Hayashi, Yanase.

 it was really a dream team.  i was pretty familiar with the
 cultural landscape of Jp publishing/translation industry at the
 time (early 1980s).  and i really couldn't think of better
 members in the translation team.

 i could suggest some alternates.
 	sakane ituo, prof takahashi, <the Shakespeare prof>,
 	(tak, etc)
 	[maybe elaborate]

 --- Prof Nozaki, is a math prof specializing in discrete math,
 algorithms, etc.  he also likes to write essays on AI, etc.
 in the early 1970s (?) he wrote a book on paradoxes which
 became a best seller in Japan.  [elaborate on the book here?]
 he is the closest thing to a "Japanese Smullyan".

 --- Prof Hayashi is a chemistry (?) prof.  he does a lot of
 translations.  i really enjoyed his translation of Nagel and
 Newman's "Go:del's Proof" (see GEB bibliography) also from
 Hakuyosha, the same publisher that did GEB.  Prof Hayashi's
 translation of Hawking "Brief History of Time" became a best
 seller in Japan.

 --- Prof Yanase was an English Lit. prof (i think he quit
 teaching).  i'd say he's the #1 translator and popularizer of
 Carroll in Japan.  he's written many books on English and Jp
 wordplay.  he finished the translation of "Finnegans Wake" a
 few years ago.  he loves Bach and shogi (Jp chess).

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  Tanaka's role in the translation
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  my role in the translation was to go over the first galley
  proofs and to suggest improvements.  it was several hundred
  hours of work.  i wasn't counting but i think i made 200-400
  local improvements.

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>
> for quite some time, i've thought about writing an article
> (in English) about translation of GEB into Japanese.
>
> maybe i'll do this 10 years from now.  there's no hurry.
>
>	(that'd be the year 2008.  would GEB still be relevant
>	then?  i hope so.  i'm trying to help make it so by the
>	FAQ file.)
>
> in order to do a real good article, i'll prob. have to visit
> Japan to do some research.  (maybe meet the translators again.)
>
> in the article i also want to write about how i disagree
> with some of DRH's thoughts on translation.
>

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 other sections:

  comment on Jp Crab Canon (annotate some portions)
  other dialogues

  translation, in general
	how i disagree with DRH

  translation, in Japan
	criticism of --- bekku sadanori, etc
	more valued than in the West

	history: literal translation (honyaku-chou)
		(how this contributed to modern Jp prose.)


;;; TANAKA Tomoyuki   ("Mr. Tanaka" or "Tomoyuki")
;;;
;;; <http://www.cs.indiana.edu/hyplan/tanaka.html>
;;;
;;; e-mail:  tanaka@cs.indiana.edu