In this episode of the Hon podcast, host Amy Chavez talks with Lena Baibikov who has translated Haruki Murakami’s non-fiction works from Japanese into Russian. Lena has translated What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, Radio Murakami and a book of Murakami’s short stories as well as works by Banana Yoshimoto, Ryu Murakami, and Yukio Mishima and several children’s book authors. This podcast recording takes place in Lena’s kitchen in Ashiya, just 100 meters from where Murakami’s parents lived until the Kobe Earthquake of 1995. Lena also took Amy on a tour of the neighborhood Murakami grew up in. She tells us how she got started translating and what it is that intrigues her about Murakami’s works. (Click “more” below to see the Show Notes).
Hon Podcast 6: Show Notes
“Welcome to Hon, the Books on Asia podcast, I’m your host, Amy Chavez, and today I’m talking to translator Lena Baibikov, translator of Haruki Murakami non-fiction into Russian. Before we get started, I just want to clue in our readers of a book that has apparently not been translated into English. Called Radio Murakami, it is a collection of questions and answers from a website/blog Murakami used to have called the Rising Sun, sponsored by the Asahi Newspaper. Many of these Q & A sessions, where readers had a chance to ask Murakami questions and get his answers, have been recorded on various books and CD Roms.”
We start the show talking about the popularity of Murakami among Russian readers including 1Q84. Lena moved to Ashiya city two years ago, and actually lives in the neighborhood he grew up in. She explains how she became interested in Murakami while reading his Radio Murakami book in Japanese. The articles were originally published in a women’s magazine. Lena elaborates on the many types of non-fiction Murakami writes, including travelogues, books on music, an introduction to literature for young readers, and a couple children’s book. The first Murakami book she ever read was A Wild Sheep Chase (at this point in the podcast recording, Lena’s husband makes a cameo appearance via the sounds of a rustling plastic bag as he comes home from grocery shopping!).
Lena talks about why she is a fan of Murakami’s shorter works. She introduces the Ashiya neighborhood and the fact that authors Junichiro Tanizaki and Yōko Ogawa also have roots here.
She points out Murakami landmarks in Nishinomiya and Ashiya that Lena and I visited that morning: Shukugawa River, Ashihara Bridge, Koroen Beach which he talked about in his first novel (Hear the Wind Sing) his junior high school, and his parent’s house before it was destroyed in the earthquake.
After this podcast episode, we continued to Monkey Park and Koroen Beach (Hear the Wind Sing) and the library where he spent much of his childhood reading.
Lena tells us what she’s working on now: a translation of Murakami’s book Shokugyo toshite Shōsetsuka where he discusses writing as a profession, and which will be published in Russian in 2020.
Lena has also translated works by Haitana Kenjiro’s A Rabbit’s Eyes, Toshi Maruki’s Hiroshima no Pika, a book of short stories by Mishima, Ryu Murakami’s In the Miso Soup, Banana Yoshimoto’s Lizard and Amrita, and works by Sei Ito and Uchida Hyakken (all in their Russian versions).