Authors on Asia: John Nathan: Living Carelessly in Tokyo & Elsewhere March 31, 2008

John Nathan arrived in Tokyo fresh out of college in 1961. By the middle of the next decade, he had translated work by Yukio Mishima and become a lifelong friend and translator to Kenzaburo Oe. During the next half century, he became friends with many of the most gifted people in the land - politicians and business leaders, artists, novelists, directors and vaudeville comedians - and was privileged to travel inside domains of Japanese life not normally open to foreigners. Along the way, he became widely recognized as a translator, author and documentary film maker.