Japanese Narratives for Children in Italy: Translation’s Challenges and Perspectives

Recently scholars interested in translation of children’s books have remarkably increased but relatively little systematic research has been conducted on Japanese works, particularly studies focused on translation from Japanese into Italian which are almost non-existent. Indeed, children’s literature in Japan was fortunate to see a great number of translations from foreign countries which made a considerable contribution to the development of modern and contemporary children’s literature. However, Japanese works for young people translated into Western languages are still very few - and this is the first reason of the lack of studies in this field - despite the growing popularity of Japanese literature overseas and the success of children’s literature in the publishing market all over the world. My contribution aims to highlight some peculiarities of the translation into Italian from Japanese in the field of children’s fiction, like coping with the writing system, the massive use of onomatopoeias, and some cultural aspects, especially in the use of realia as well as offer an overview of the current situation of Japanese narrative for children in Italy.