ABSTRACT
This chapter proposes a new way to view translation as an agent that was involved in the construction of post-war Japanese culture within Cold War geopolitics by the historicization of translation conducted institutionally. It shows two examples. One is the translation program conducted first by General Headquarters, Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (GHQ/SCAP) during the occupation of Japan and then transferred to the American Embassy under the State Department. The analysis of this program shows how various scholars, translators, and critics were engaged in the introduction of desirable literature to Japan. The other is a new reading of the translation of Kawabata Yasunari’s Snow Country by Edward Seidensticker in the context of Cold War cultural politics. Through these two cases, translation reveals itself as a powerful cultural vehicle that was employed in the process of refashioning post-war Japan.
