Masaoka, Kiyoko
This translator has had the fortune of living at the same time as the authors of Media Vaca’s Japanese books. She first heard of the publishing house when the publishers visited Japan to participate in a workshop held in a local museum, where she acted as an interpreter. Twenty-one Japanese illustrators participated in the workshop, with lots of enthusiasm and lots of luck. For three days, they created their own version of Little Red Riding Hood and narrated the story in drawing and with great pleasure. Who would have thought then, however, that their works would become Media Vaca’s book Once Upon 21 Times… Little Red Riding Hood?
The translator enjoys the characters of the publishing house’s Japanese books, who being talking to her in Japanese, but at some point they start speaking Spanish, and even in other ways than those which appear in the book.
Kiyoko was born in 1965 in Osaka, Japan. Master’s Degree in Spanish Linguistics from Tokyo’s University of Foreign Studies. Interpreter and translator from Japanese to Spanish and vice versa since 1996; Spanish teacher in three universities in Tokyo since 2013.
What is your name?
Kiyoko
How old are you?
54
Where do you live?
Tokyo
What is your favourite colour?
The colour of cherry blossom petals
What is your favourite dish?
Pickled vegetables
What objects do you keep as treasure?
A hyakunin-isshu deck of cards
What do you like to do for fun?
Finding differences between two similar words
What activities do you excel at?
Sleeping
Where would you like to travel?
To a spa in the sea
What do you want to be when you grow up?
Someone who knows how to transmit what is interesting about learning Spanish
…
Answers to the same questionnaire. Aged 5 to 8 (as I remember)
What is your name?
Kiyoko
How old are you?
From 5 to 8
Where do you live?
Osaka
What is your favourite colour?
Yellow
What is your favourite dish?
Mushrooms, chicken thighs, steak
What objects do you keep as treasure?
Pretty stickers, Kowan (a stuffed dog)
What do you like to do for fun?
Driving go-karts, The Game of Life
What activities do you excel at?
Imitating Nadia Comaneci, imitating some enka singers
Where would you like to travel?
To my cousins’ house in Kobe
What do you want to be when you grow up?
Someone who speaks English, flight attendant