Kenji Miyazawa, the centenary of whose birth was celebrated just three years ago, needs no introducing to Japanese readers. Most Japanese could recite or at least recognize lines from his best-known poems, including the modern inspirational classic "Ame ni mo makezu," (here translated as "Strong in the Rain"), and many have been familiar with his fables, satires and fairy tales since childhood.
Miyazawa is not nearly so well-known outside Japan, but English-language readers have had some access to his richly imagined world in recent years, most notably through John Bester's excellent translations of the principal works -- including "Ginga tetsudo no yoru (Night Train to the Stars)" (Kodansha, 1996) and two dozen of Miyazawa's best stories (collected under the title "Once and Forever," revised edition, Kodansha, 1997). Bester's version of "Night Train to the Stars" is especially valuable in that the original Japanese text is printed on the facing pages -- a rare boon for the language student.
The distinction of this new sequence of translations by Roger Pulvers, a Kyoto-based writer, lecturer and stage director, is that it opens a window onto Miyazawa's original Japanese for very young students as well.