1 A brief history of interpreting and interpreter training in Japan since the 1960s* Tatsuya Komatsu Introduction The history of interpreting in Japan is long and colorful. The first recorded presence of an interpreter dates back to 607, when one accompanied the second Official Envoy to China. In each of 13 succeeding envoys, the last of which left Japan in 838, interpreters played an important role in Japan’s efforts to learn and import religion, technology, and administrative and legal systems from the more advanced China. During the Edo Period (1603–1868), an era of self-imposed national isolation, the contact with foreign countries was restricted (other than China) only to the Netherlands, and officially appointed Dutch-Japanese interpreters played a crucial role not only in trade but in helping and promoting modernization of the Japanese society. The first official visit to Japan by Americans, led by Commodore Perry in 1853, was also facilitated by some of those Dutch-Japanese interpreters (through relay with English.) The period after the Meiji Restoration in 1868 had again been characterized by continuous efforts on the part of Japan to introduce culture and technology from Europe and the United States, although they were seriously disrupted in the period just before and during World War II. The first occasion where the role of interpreters attracted attention after the war was the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, which was convened in Tokyo from May 1946 to April 1948. Thirty Japanese-English interpreters were engaged, but interpreting during this tribunal, unlike in Nuremburg Trials, was basically consecutive except occasional simultane ous reading of pre-translated documents such as the final verdict (Komatsu, 2003). Active interchange with the outside world was resumed after the war, first with the United States, then gradually involving many other countries and regions. The landmark event in this connection was the holding of the Tokyo Olympics in 1964, after which Japan has come to be recognized as a member of the international community.
