Tribute to Eugene Woodbury: Man on a Mission

Eugene kept himself updated

on changes to Tokyo South.

Eugene spent time in Japan as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. His mission, during the late 70's, was Tokyo South, which area he often wrote about on his blog. He later wrote about his missionary experience in a semi-autobiographical novel, Tokyo South. That novel will be republished at a later date through this blog. Currently, the opening chapter is available. 

After his mission ended, Eugene majored in TESL at Brigham Young University. He continued to improve his understanding of Japanese--he was never without vocabulary cards, the 3-1/2" by 1-3/4" types. 

A decade later, in the late 1980s, he returned to Japan to teach English. 

He didn't stay. However, on his return, he continued to watch Japanese television and anime, read novels and manga, and stay abreast of current events. As the next tribute post will discuss, he never stopped producing translations. 

Eugene's remarkable facility with translation was due, in large part, to his belief that translation is not a matter for Google Translate (as the image from Bones humorously illustrates). Rather, translation involves a grasp of culture and nuance. A translator hopes to capture the allusions, conscious and unconscious references/assumptions, within a text. 

Eugene was a perfectionist (one reason he preferred to translate for free); he was never entirely sure he had captured the full meaning of a passage or phrase or even word. 

Language has layers. As an aficionado of everything Japanese, Eugene strove to capture those layers. Interview with the Translator captures Eugene's continual effort to deepen and expand his knowledge of Japanese history, culture, language, and--especially--popular works.

A tribute post to Eugene's writing, including his translations, will follow in May.