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IN THE NEWS / Japanese manga debuts in Russia

Kanta Ishida / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

Ivan Sergeevich Logachov, a 27-year-old Russian Japanologist, is in the process of translating Rumiko Takahashi's comic series "Ranma 1/2" into Russian.

The popular 38-volume series features high-school martial arts fighter Ranma Saotome, who transforms into a girl with a splash of cold water.

A total of 12 volumes of the series have been published in Russia since 2005. This is the first time that a Japanese cartoon series has been commercially published in the country.

"Since Russian has few onomatopoeias, I struggled with such expressions as 'suta suta aruku' (to walk briskly) and 'sara sara nagareru' (to flow with a murmur). I also had difficulty translating the martial arts tricks that the hero who trained in China named in Chinese characters," he remarked.

Logachov speaks Japanese fluently. Born in Moscow, he lived in Japan from the age of six months until he was 6 years old, accompanying his father, a Tass correspondent to Tokyo. After graduating from Moscow University, he studied Japanese literature at Tokyo University Graduate School from 2004 until spring 2006.

"Japan is very interesting because it's different from other countries. Japan feels like my second homeland," Logachov said.

In Russia, he is known as the young translator of novelist Haruki Murakami's works. Logachov translated Murakami's "Umibe no Kafka" ("Kafka on the Shore") with his father.

Logachov is proud that the novel was published in his country earlier than in the United States and other European countries.

He loves manga and said that Michiharu Kusunoki's "Wangan Midnight" (Metropolitan Expressway Wangan Line Midnight) and Shuichi Shigeno's "Initial D" are his favorites.

"In Russia there's almost no comic book market. I felt that [translating the series] was worthwhile because Russian children can read 'Ranma' with light in their eyes," he said.

Translating manga pays little, despite the difficulty.

"It's a chance, however, to study the way young Japanese people talk. I'll complete the series even if I go broke by doing so," said Logachov.
(Jul. 5, 2006)