Prize winners of Japan-United States Friendship Commission Prize for the Translation of Japanese Literature and the Lindsley and Masao Miyoshi Translation Prize
2025–2026
The Donald Keene Center of Japanese Culture announces winners selected by jury for this year’s Japan-United States Friendship Commission Prize for the Translation of Japanese Literature and for the Lindsley and Masao Miyoshi Translation Prize.
The Japan-United States Friendship Commission Prize for the Translation of Japanese Literature for the calendar year 2025–2026 will be awarded to the following translator:
Joshua S. Mostow for his translation of Hyakunin’shu: Reading the Hundred Poets in Late Edo Japan (University of Hawai’i Press, 2024)
In addition, the Lindsley and Masao Miyoshi Translation Prize will be awarded to the following translators, listed in alphabetical order by last name:
Brent de Chene and Charles De Wolf for their translation of Keiichirō Hirano’s Eclipse (Columbia University Press, 2024)
Louise Heal Kawai for her translation of Hideo Yokoyama’s The North Light (Hachette U.K., An imprint of Quercus Editions Ltd., 2023)
The Japan-United States Friendship Commission Prize for the Translation of Japanese Literature was established in 1979, and the award has been administered by the Donald Keene Center of Japanese Culture at Columbia University since the Center was founded in 1986. The Prize is awarded annually to outstanding works of translation into English from the Japanese language.
The Lindsley and Masao Miyoshi Translation Prize was established in 2016, in honor of Lindsley Miyoshi, longtime jury member for the Japan-United States Friendship Commission Prize, and her husband Masao. The prize is awarded to outstanding or academically significant translations. On occasion, career achievement awards are rewarded to translators for particularly distinguished careers.
Joshua S. Mostow for his translation of Hyakunin’shu: Reading the Hundred Poets in Late Edo Japan (University of Hawai’i Press, 2024)
Brent de Chene and Charles De Wolf for their translation of Keiichirō Hirano’s Eclipse (Columbia University Press, 2024)
Louise Heal Kawai for her translation of Hideo Yokoyama’s The North Light (Hachette U.K., An imprint of Quercus Editions Ltd., 2023)
About the Japan United States Friendship Commission:
The Japan United States Friendship Commission (JUSFC) was established as an independent agency by the US Congress in 1975 (P.L. 94-118). The Commission administers a US government trust fund that originated in connection with the return to the Japanese government of certain US facilities in Okinawa and for postwar American assistance to Japan. Income from the fund is available for the promotion of scholarly, cultural, and public affairs activities between the two countries.
About the Donald Keene Center of Japanese Culture:
Founded in 1986 at Columbia University, the Donald Keene Center of Japanese Culture (DKC) is named in honor of Professor Donald Keene, internationally renowned scholar, Columbia University teacher, and interpreter of Japanese literature and culture to the West. The Center is dedicated to advancing the understanding of Japan and its culture in the United States through university instruction, research, and public education. In addition, the Center seeks to encourage study of the interrelationships among the cultures of Japan, other Asian countries, Europe, and the United States.