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I love reading. Now I read books in English and Japanese. However, about ten years ago, I went through a spell (a spell = a period of time) of only reading Japanese. I wanted to improve my Japanese, so I only read Japanese novels or non-fiction books. I have been a translator for 14 years, so at that time, I was translating. I read Japanese every day at work, and then I read Japanese every night after work.

I translate from Japanese into English, so it is important for me to understand Japanese well. However, it is also important for me to write English well. When I went through the spell of reading only Japanese books, I noticed that my written English was not as good as it used to be. It didn’t seem natural. Also, when I was teaching, students would ask me questions, such as “How do you say XXX in natural English?” Sometimes, it was difficult for me to answer.

I wondered why. Perhaps my brain got used to Japanese phrasing and expression because I was reading so much. Then, I realised something important. I had to maintain my native language too. In English there is a saying – “If you don’t use it, you lose it”. I felt I was losing my English.

So, I decided to start reading again in English. Now, I read more English books than Japanese books. I need to maintain a high level of English for my work. I teach, translate and write in English. So, even though English is my native language, reading English books is a kind of study for me. I still read Japanese books, but not so many. Actually, I would like to read more. Next year, I’m going to try to balance my reading so I read an equal number of Japanese and English books. It’s important to maintain both skills.

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I love poetry. I enjoy reading and writing it. One of my favourite poets is Rainer Maria Rilke. I can’t read German (although I studied it at school), so I have to read translations of his poetry. The translations are beautiful, so I can imagine that the original German is also beautiful.

I also like Japanese poetry, especially haiku and tanka. I have a book about how to write haiku in Japanese. It has a list of seasonal words in it. I learned a lot of Japanese vocabulary from the book, and I read many examples of Japanese haiku. I have tried to write my own, but they are not very good. When I read them to my Japanese friends, their reaction is usually “Hmm….”

So, I write more poetry in English than I do in Japanese. I sometimes write haiku in English, and I sometimes write traditional English poetry, but I prefer to write freely. I pick up ideas for poems everywhere. Sometimes, my poems come from a line in a song, or a conversation, or from a scene. Somtimes, the poem just appears in my head!

I sent some of my poems to poetry journals a few years ago. Unfortunately, the journals didn’t want my poems! They weren’t good enough. 😦

I guess I have to practice and study more.