The Japan Times: Jan. 4, 2004
By YOKO HANI
Staff writer

It may be only mildly surprising that Japanese translations of the first four "Harry Potter" titles have racked up 16.5 million sales to date. It is, though, quite astonishing that the publisher is not an industry giant, but a small Tokyo firm with no previous best seller to its name.

This is all due to the zeal and ability of Yuko Matsuoka, the president of Say-zan-sha Publications Ltd. After falling in love with the first of J.K. Rowling's books while she was in England in 1998, she not only succeeded in acquiring the Japanese translation rights for the whole series, but then set about translating "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" herself.

"It was like magic," Matsuoka says in the postscript of that book, which was her first-ever translation of a literary work. "It was like falling under a spell," she says, recalling how she read the book from cover to cover one night, then picked up the phone the next morning and called the author's agent to inquire about translation rights.

However, Matsuoka, who stepped into her husband's shoes as president of Say-zan-sha after he died of cancer in 1997, is quick to acknowledge the unstinting assistance of her colleagues and friends such as U.S. artist Dan Schlesinger, who helped greatly with the books' cover designs and illustrations.

Matsuoka, who graduated from International Christian University in Tokyo in 1966 and obtained an MA in international political science at Monterey Institute of International Studies in California, has had a long career as a simultaneous interpreter. Since 1981, she has been a conference interpreter at the annual general meeting of the Geneva-based International Labor Organization.

Working in both Geneva and Tokyo, Matsuoka is now translating "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," the fifth in the series, which was published in English last summer.

Recently, she announced that the book's Japanese version will be published next Sept. 1 -- the same date on which the Hogwarts Express leaves platform 9 3/4 at London's King's Cross Station every year at the start of Hogwarts School's new academic year.

Last month, while she was in Tokyo to promote the publication of the first "audio book" of the "Harry Potter" series, and to work on preparations for an international convention on ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or motoneuron disease) -- also known as Lou Gehrig's disease after the great Yankees' hitter who died of the affliction in 1941 -- Matsuoka made time for this interview, in English, with The Japan Times.

Can you tell me about the Japan ALS Association and your involvement with it.

ALS is amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or motoneuron disease. As the name signifies it is a neurological disease affecting the motor nerves, and nobody knows why it happens, so there is no cure yet. As patients [in the advanced stages] cannot move at all, the last thing they can do to communicate with others is to use their blinking.

The association was founded [in 1986] by my late husband together with ALS patients, families and medical professionals. He wanted to organize an international ALS conference in Japan in 2000, but because of his death it did not happen. Now it has been decided it will be held in Yokohama in 2006 -- the 20th anniversary of the association.

How did your late husband get involved with ALS activities?

He published the diary of a patient and he learned how miserable sufferers' lives were and he wanted to do something about it. So he established the [nonprofit, voluntary] Japan ALS Association, and he offered his service free of charge for 14 years before he died.

My husband wanted to help them to live with dignity. All human beings have the right to live with dignity, as the Japanese Constitution also guarantees. My husband wanted to help them to achieve the same status as human beings as normal people... Now ALS patients themselves are trying to change the situation for themselves, which is a good thing. So I am just helping them to achieve their objectives to live with dignity as human beings.

What is the plan for the 2006 conference?

Its date was officially announced in Milan in November, but preparations have already been going on for two years. I think that researchers and doctors from Europe and the United States are expected to come over to exchange opinions with Japanese medical professionals. I am supposed to provide a very good simultaneous interpretation for the conference, as my husband wanted me to do... I have to train interpreters for that as well. Also, since it is the first conference to be held in Asia, a lot of people from Asian countries are expected to come over.