Royall Tyler received an MA in 1966 (Japanese history) and a PhD in 1977 (Japanese literature) from Columbia University (U.S.A.) under the tutelage of Donald Keene. He subsequently taught Japanese literature at Ohio State University (U.S.A.), University of Wisconsin at Madison (U.S.A.), and the University of Oslo (Norway). He began teaching at the Australian National University in 1990 and served as a Reader (Professor) in the Japan Centre, Faculty of Asian Studies, from 1992 until his retirement in 2000.

Tyler has introduced non-Japanese audiences to the Noh theater through his highly acclaimed translations and publications of numerous Noh plays, and in 2001 he completed translating the entire Tale of Genji, a task that took approximately eight years. The result is not only a faithful rendering of the original but an outstanding example of modern English, replete with detailed commentary and illustrations that facilitate an understanding of the story. The translation was awarded the Japan-US Friendship Commission Translation Prize in 2001. His translation of anthology of medieval setsuwa stories Japanese Tales (1987) is also highly appreciated and has won a multitude of readers.

Currently Tyler has been lecturing at symposiums and seminars around the world, in addition to running an alpaca ranch outside Canberra with his supporting and loving wife.

Following his graduation from the Tokyo University of Art and Music, Kitagawa Fram organized various exhibits that introduced works of art that were not well known in Japan at the time and a wide range of art projects, including the 1978 “Antoni Gaudi” exhibition that traveled to 11 cities in Japan and the “Apartheid NON!” international exhibition that was shown at 194 venues nationwide.

Kitagawa has also received high praise for his involvement in activities relating to community development, including the Total Planning of Faret Tachikawa Art Project and Cultural Activities of the Daikanyama Hillside Terrace which was awarded the Mecenat Award Grand Prix.

He served as the general director for Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial in 2000, 2003, and 2006, making a major contribution to regional development through art.
He is the recipient of many awards, including the Cultural Order of Chevalier from the Republic of France, the Cultural Order from the Republic of Poland, and the 2006 Japanese Minister of Education Award for Art (in the field of art promotion).

Kitagawa is expected to organize many new projects in the coming years and is currently participating in an international art festival spanning Naoshima, Inushima, and other islands in the Seto Inland Sea and others.

Photo: INAKOSHI Koichi

Levy Hideo is the first Westerner to become a novelist in Japanese. Born in 1950 in California, he spent his childhood in Taiwan and Hong Kong, moving to Japan when he was 16. He subsequently lived alternately in Japan and the United States, receiving a doctorate from Princeton University and teaching Japanese literature at Princeton and Stanford Universities. He currently resides in Tokyo.