My old friend Yoshio Kobayashi, under his pen name Takashi Ogawa, has written a nice piece on new trends in Japanese science fiction. I’m currently helping Yoshio round up some North American translators to assist with an anthology of short fiction by some of the more interesting new Japanese writers.
Interesting! I’m attending the Worldcon this year — Nippon 2007, held in Yokohama — and I’ve been trying to figure out what SF&F Japan produces that *isn’t* manga or anime. I’m periodically posting results to the associated LJ community (nippon2007.livejournal.com).
The “Vampire Hunter D” and “Crest of the Stars” series are being translated and published in the US; Tomino’s “Gundam” trilogy was, years ago; the anime “Dirty Pair” and “Yukikaze” are known to be derived from novels, but few have seen them. The Worldcon’s Progress Reports, haven’t done any surveys of the field — “J-Lit”-wise, they’re addressed little but GoH Sakyo Komatsu’s work.
I should ask: are you aware of Nippon 2007 (www.nippon2007.us)? I’m on the periphery of the promotional subcommittee, and the more people who have independent trans-Pacific contacts, the better. I actually found your blog during a wildly inaccurate search for Japanese LEGO fandom. (That’s my other assignment.)
I was aware of Nippon 2007, and had been trying to figure out if there might be some way I could attend by working the connection between designing games and writing sf.