Jay Rubin is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 academic and translator. He is most notable for being one of the main translators into English of the works of the Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami

Haruki Murakami

is a Japanese writer and translator. His works of fiction and non-fiction have garnered him critical acclaim and numerous awards, including the Franz Kafka Prize and Jerusalem Prize among others.He is considered an important figure in postmodern literature...

. He has also written a guide to Japanese, Making Sense of Japanese (original title Gone Fishin'), and a biographical literary analysis of Murakami.

He has a Ph.D. in Japanese literature

Japanese literature

Early works of Japanese literature were heavily influenced by cultural contact with China and Chinese literature, often written in Classical Chinese. Indian literature also had an influence through the diffusion of Buddhism in Japan...

 from the University of Chicago

University of Chicago

The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...

. Currently a professor at Harvard, he taught at the University of Washington

University of Washington

University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...

 for eighteen years. In his early research career he focused on the Meiji

Meiji period

The , also known as the Meiji era, is a Japanese era which extended from September 1868 through July 1912. This period represents the first half of the Empire of Japan.- Meiji Restoration and the emperor :...

 state censorship system. More recently Rubin has concentrated his efforts on Murakami, and Noh

Noh

, or - derived from the Sino-Japanese word for "skill" or "talent" - is a major form of classical Japanese musical drama that has been performed since the 14th century. Many characters are masked, with men playing male and female roles. Traditionally, a Noh "performance day" lasts all day and...

 drama. His most recent publications are Modern Japanese Writers (Scribners, 2001), and Haruki Murakami and the Music of Words (Harvill, 2002; Vintage, 2005). His translation of 18 stories by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa

Ryunosuke Akutagawa

was a Japanese writer active in the Taishō period in Japan. He is regarded as the "Father of the Japanese short story". He committed suicide at age of 35 through an overdose of barbital.-Early life:...

 appeared as a Penguin Classics in 2006.

Rubin also translated the "Thousand Years of Dreams" passages for use in the Japanese-produced Xbox 360

Xbox 360

The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...

 game Lost Odyssey

Lost Odyssey

is a console role-playing game developed by Mistwalker and feelplus and published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox 360. The player takes control of Kaim, a man who has lived for a thousand years and who has no memory of his past...

.

Translations

• Sanshiro, Soseki Natsume
• The Miner, Soseki Natsume
• The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Haruki Murakami
  Haruki Murakami
  is a Japanese writer and translator. His works of fiction and non-fiction have garnered him critical acclaim and numerous awards, including the Franz Kafka Prize and Jerusalem Prize among others.He is considered an important figure in postmodern literature...
  
  
• Norwegian Wood, Haruki Murakami
  Haruki Murakami
  is a Japanese writer and translator. His works of fiction and non-fiction have garnered him critical acclaim and numerous awards, including the Franz Kafka Prize and Jerusalem Prize among others.He is considered an important figure in postmodern literature...
  
  
• after the quake, Haruki Murakami
  Haruki Murakami
  is a Japanese writer and translator. His works of fiction and non-fiction have garnered him critical acclaim and numerous awards, including the Franz Kafka Prize and Jerusalem Prize among others.He is considered an important figure in postmodern literature...
  
  
• Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories, Ryūnosuke Akutagawa
  Ryunosuke Akutagawa
  was a Japanese writer active in the Taishō period in Japan. He is regarded as the "Father of the Japanese short story". He committed suicide at age of 35 through an overdose of barbital.-Early life:...
  
  , Penguin Classics (2004). ISBN 0-14303984-9
• 1Q84, Haruki Murakami
  Haruki Murakami
  is a Japanese writer and translator. His works of fiction and non-fiction have garnered him critical acclaim and numerous awards, including the Franz Kafka Prize and Jerusalem Prize among others.He is considered an important figure in postmodern literature...
  
  

Published works

• Tansman, Alan and Dennis Washburn. (1997). Studies in Modern Japanese Literature: Essays and Translations in Honor of Edwin McClellan
  Edwin McClellan
  Edwin McClellan was a British Japanologist. He was an academic—a scholar, teacher, writer, translator and interpreter of Japanese literature and culture.-Biography:...
  
  . Ann Arbor: Center for Japanese Studies, University of Michigan. ISBN 0-9395-1284-X (cloth)
• Making Sense of Japanese: What the Textbooks Don't Tell You (Power Japanese Series, Kodansha's Children's Classics), Kodansha International (March 1, 2002), paperback, 144 pp., ISBN 978-4-7700-2802-0 – first published as Gone Fishin' (1992)

External links

• Jay Rubin – faculty homepage