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Another issue for the book in Japan is the translation, which, ironically, strikes readers as unsettlingly authentic. According to those who have read both the English and the Japanese versions, the translation has changed the book because it uses a manner of expression that was unique to geisha society in Kyoto and for which there is no English equivalent. Japanese readers have noted that the translator, Takayoshi Ogawa, appears to be a second author -- there's no way Golden could have known exactly how people in this subculture spoke to each other.

While this might seem to be a successful translation, for Japanese readers it's confusing to read a book by a foreigner that sounds so genuine. On the one hand, they say, it uses specialized language that the original author could never have known, yet it still takes the time to explain things about the culture that are obvious to Japanese readers. As one reader put it, the charm that you feel when you read the book in English, which evokes a feeling of the exotic, is lost in the Japanese version, in which it seems as if Golden is hiding the fact that he is a foreigner.

But the reaction's not all bad. The translator's use of Kyoto dialect and Golden's ability to mask his own foreignness have been the main sources of the small praise the book has garnered in Japan. Reviewers aren't saying this is a groundbreaking novel. They are saying that while it may seem strange for a foreigner to write about this topic, the book really doesn't come across as if it was written by a foreigner.

And like Golden's Western audience, Japanese readers have been impressed by his detailed accounts of feminine customs and traditions. Natsuyo Yukawa, a 30-year-old Japanese teacher and student of the tea ceremony, says she was shocked by some parts of the novel -- particularly an exam that establishes the virginity of two girls -- and that she learned new (and, let's hope, accurate) things from Golden's book that she never knew about geishas. Still, she admits that the only reason she read the book was that she heard about how famous it is. Otherwise, she says, "in the bookstore, another book might have seemed more interesting."

So for now, heaps of unsold copies of "Sayuri" are gathering dust, towering over diminishing piles of more successful books. One of these -- the country's biggest bestseller since World War II -- focuses on an issue that's much more relevant. With its simple but inspiring message, "Gotai Fumanzoku" ("Nobody's Perfect"), the autobiography of a 24-year-old Japanese man born with no arms and legs, has sold 4.5 million copies since its release in 1998. In the words of its author, Hirotada Ototake: "You don't have to be born perfect to be happy." That this book is striking such a chord reflects a growing appreciation of the value of outsiders in Japan's homogeneous society.

Meantime, plenty of gaijin (foreigners in Japan) are still lapping up the exotic angle. A trip to the Japanese-English bookstore in Roppongi revealed heaps of the Japanese translation of Golden's novel up front, but when the clerk went looking for the English version at the back of the store, he came back empty-handed. Sold out.
salon.com | May 3, 2000

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