Based in Yokohama, Japan, Raj Mahtani has been weathering the wild seas of Japanese to English translation since the early nineties and along the way has contributed to a number of publications, including Adweek and the Japan Times Weekly. Among his recent translations are Rieko Saegusa’s Tale Winds, an intimate account of a former flight attendant’s encounter with humanity that unfolded 39,000 feet in the air; Fumitada Naoe’s Live with Meaning. Die with Passion, a visually stunning self-help guide to navigating life; Shiho Kishimoto’s I Hear Them Cry, a coming of age novel about a starry-eyed girl navigating the uncharted waters of love and hate; Randy Taguchi’s Fujisan, a collection of four unforgettable stories of redemption, discovery, loss, and remembrance; Shiraishi Kazufumi’s Me Against the World–an essayistic novel that takes the reader down the rabbit hole of the raging mind of a man, who only rejects the world in order to save it from itself—and the same author’s forthcoming (at the time of this writing) The Part of Me That Isn’t Broken Inside, an unflinching portrayal of a Tokyoite’s timeless, soul-searching quest for the unvarnished, yet golden truth of existence.

Equipped with a BA in international affairs and a double minor in communications and theater from Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon, Raj occasionally muses on his blog, Passage J (rmaht.typepad.com), where he also posts author interviews along with his published nonfiction stories. Working closely with TranNet, a Japanese literary translation agency based in Tokyo, Raj’s aim, at the end of the day, is to offer lateral glimpses into what makes Japan, his wonderland home, so dynamic and inspiring.