Introduction

This collection of critical articles ranges from considerations of the influence of Japanese culture and ideas on Ishiguro and investigations of his creative process as a writer to analyses of the structures of his novels using conceptual models. The arguments in this book do not suggest that only Japanese readers can understand Japanese culture and ideas. Considering that Ishiguro himself is a writer of ‘two-world literature’ (Suter) or ‘the born translated’ (Walkowitz) who illustrates or bridges the distance between Japan and the West, this collection of articles from Japanese perspectives emphasises the necessity of the openness of cultural translation, not the exclusivity that narrowly deals with the peculiarity of a single culture. Furthermore, this attitude requires a broader consideration in a global context from perspectives other than the Japanese and Western to arrive at a deeper understanding of this English writer born in Japan.