I Hear Them Cry (21 page)

Photo © Edward Kishimoto, 2013

Born in 1950, Shiho Kishimoto graduated from Japan’s Women’s College of Fine Arts before holding a post in the Hong Kong branch of a Japanese trading company, where she was a currency trader. After appearing in court as a witness for the prosecution in a high-profile tax-evasion lawsuit against Mitsukoshi, she wrote the essay “My One Other Occupation.” In 2003 she marked her debut as a novelist with the release of
I Hear Them Cry
, which was awarded the Toyo Shuppan Literary Award. Her other awards include the Tenth Shinpusha Foucault Masterpiece Award for the best short-story anthology for
Lottery
and the Aichi Publishing Critics’ Award for her novel
I See a Stranger.
She lives in Tokyo, where she is active as a lecturer.

ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR

Photograph © Koji Chikatani, 2013

Based in Yokohama, Japan, Raj Mahtani has been weathering the wild seas of Japanese to English translation since the early nineties and along the way has contributed to a number of publications, including
Adweek
and the
Japan Times Weekly
. Among his recent translations are Rieko Saegusa’s
Tale Winds
, an intimate account of a former flight attendant’s encounter with humanity that unfolded 39,000 feet in the air; Akiko Hoshino’s
Painted Cookies
, a sugarcraft expert’s guide to creative cookies; and Fumitada Naoe’s
Live with Meaning. Die with Passion
, a visually stunning self-help guide to navigating life. Equipped with a BA in international affairs and a double minor in communications and theater from Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon, Raj occasionally muses on his blog, Passage J (
rmaht.typepad.com
), about contemporary Japanese artists and writers, and he works closely with TranNet, a Japanese literary translation agency based in Tokyo. His aim, at the end of the day, is to offer lateral glimpses into what makes Japan, his wonderland home, so dynamic and inspiring. He recently translated Randy Taguchi’s
Fujisan
.