Japan – Speculative Fiction in Translation

Translating Godzilla and Mothra on the Three Percent Podcast

By Rachel CordascoMarch 3, 2026spotlightJapan, Japanese, Jeffrey Angles, Joanne Bernardi, Open Letter Books, University of Minnesota Press

Check out Chad Post’s (Open Letter Books) fantastic conversation with Jeffrey Angles and Joanne Bernardi on translating Godzilla and Mothra on the latest Three Percent Podcast.

Out This Month: January

By Rachel CordascoJanuary 4, 20261 commentout this monthAlex Shvartsman, Asimov's, Attila Veres, Carmen Yiling Yan, China, Chinese, Clarkesworld, Hungarian, Hungary, Japan, Japanese, Ju Chu, K. A Teryna, Michael Day, Russia, Russian, Valancourt Books, Wakefield Press, Yumiko Kurahashi

“Tomorrow’s Beautiful Dream” by Ju Chu, translated from the Chinese by Carmen Yiling Yan (Clarkesworld, January 1) “All My Birds“ by K.A. Teryna, translated from the Russian by Alex Shvartsman (Asimov’s, January/February) Pedro the Vast by Simón López Trujillo, translated from the Spanish (Chile) by Robin Myers (Algonquin Books, January 13) In the disorienting, devastatingly

Review: Vampiric: Tales of Blood and Roses from Japan

By Rachel CordascoNovember 27, 2025reviewJapan, Japanese, Kurodahan Press

Contents: “Introduction” by Raechel Dumas “A Cultural Dynasty of Beautiful Vampires: Japan’s acceptance, Modifications, and Adaptations of Vampires” by Shimokusu Masaya “Blue Lady” by Inoue Masahiko, tr. Neil Webb “Kingdom” by Asukabe Katsunori, tr. Laura Wolly Dominguez “The Stone Castle” by Kikuchi Hideyuki, tr. Jonathan Bunt “The One-Legged Woman” by Okamoto Kido, tr. Neil Webb

Izumi Suzuki at SF Ruminations

By Rachel CordascoNovember 19, 2025reviewIzumi Suzuki, Japan, Japanese, Joachim Boaz, SF Ruminations

Here’s my joint-SFT review with Joachim Boaz over at Science Fiction and Other Suspect Ruminations, this time on Izumi Suzuki’s “Terminal Boredom” (1984, trans. 2021). Check it out here!

Kurodahan Press

By Rachel CordascoNovember 9, 2025spotlightEdward Lipsett, Japan, Japanese, Kurodahan Press

For over twenty years (2002-2025), Kurodahan Press brought Anglophone readers a wealth of fascinating fiction and nonfiction from and about Japan. A major focus of this press was speculative fiction, resulting in a number of works in the genres of science fiction, fantasy, weird, uncanny, and horror being translated into and published in English. Kurodahan

Interview with Edward Lipsett

By Rachel CordascoNovember 9, 2025interviewEdward Lipsett, Japan, Japanese, Kurodahan Press

Edward Lipsett, an American immigrant to Japan and a professional translator, founded Kurodahan Press with two colleagues in Japan in 2002. Between then and 2025, Kurodahan Press published a wealth of Japanese texts in various genres (including speculative fiction) in English translation. Here, I ask him about sf, publishing, and translation. Rachel at SFT (SFT):

Review: The Thousand Year Beach by Tobi Hirotaka

By Rachel CordascoNovember 7, 2025reviewHaikasoru, Japan, Japanese, Matt Treyvaud, Tobi Hirotaka

translated by Matt Treyvaud original publication (in Japanese): 2002 first English edition: 2018, Haikasoru 352 pages grab a copy here or through your local independent bookstore or library **spoilers** “What does it mean to remember? What is a memory?” (79). Thus opens Chapter 3 of Tobi Hirotaka’s sf-horror novel The Thousand Year Beach (skillfully translated

Review: Crystal Silence by Fujisaki Shingo

By Rachel CordascoOctober 28, 20251 commentreviewFujisaki Shingo, Japan, Japanese, Kathleen Taji, Kurodahan Press

translated by Kathleen Taji original publication (in Japanese): 1999 first English edition: 2012, Kurodahan Press 344 pages grab a copy here or through your local independent bookstore or library Crystal Silence is one of the many excellent works of Japanese sf in translation published by the now-sadly-shuttered Kurodahan Press. Sprawling, technically detailed, and ambitious, Fujisaki

Out This Month: October

By Rachel CordascoOctober 3, 2025out this monthAlex Shvartsman, Anne Thompson Melo, Antoine Volodine, Arabic, Argentina, Blake Stone-Banks, China, Chinese, Clarkesworld, Dutch, Enrique Muñoz-Mantas, Eva Meijer, Fairwood Press, France, French, Gabriela Rábago Palafox, Gina M. Stamm, Harper, Harper One, Honford Star, Hungarian, Hungary, Invisible Publishing, Iskanchi Press, JaeHoon Choi, Janet Hong, Japan, Japanese, K. A. Teryna, Korea, Korean, Krisztina Tóth, Liu Maijia, M. Elizabeth Ginway, Mauritania, Mexico, Moussa Ould Ebnou, Ottilie Mulzet, Paul Roochnik, Russia, Russian, Sarah Moses, Seven Stories Press, Spanish, Sung-il Kim, Takami Nieda, The Netherlands, Thomas Olde Heuvelt, Tomás Downey, Tor, Two Lines Press, University of Minnesota Press, Yasushi Kitagawa

“Giant Grandmother” by Liu Maijia, translated from the Chinese by Blake Stone-Banks (Clarkesworld, October 1) Black Hole Heart and Other Stories by K. A. Teryna, translated from the Russian by Alex Shvartsman (Fairwood Press, October 1) The world is not how we perceive it. A blizzard may be the fury of a whale god. Intelligent

Yuki Tejima on Translating Mizuki Tsujimura

By Rachel CordascoSeptember 27, 2025spotlightJapan, Japanese, Mizuki Tsujimura, Yuki Tejima

On LitHub, translator Yuki Tejima talks about translating Mizuki Tsujimura’s Lost Souls Meet Under a Full Moon (Scribner) into English.

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