Japan Association of Translators 日本翻訳者協会

At JAT, we have compiled the answers to the often-raised questions among translators who live outside Japan and work for Japan-based clients:

Are Japan-based clients supposed to deduct tax from payments for translation work? If so, are there ways to avoid such withholding taxes?

On November 10, 2007, we had JAT’s tax accountant, Mr. Masaru Sato, give a talk on this very subject. In addition, we had Mr. Sato prepare a document explaining the tax mechanism for us, complete with links to necessary forms. For some remaining questions raised by JAT members, we asked Mr. Sadao Kanezaki, one of the authors of “Doing Business in Japan,” also a tax accountant, to provide us with a second opinion on this topic.

JAT members may listen to the audio recording of Mr. Sato’s talk (zipped mp3 file), and get a recapitulation of the Q&A at the session (pdf file), as well as documents prepared for JAT by tax accountants Mr. Masaru Sato and Mr. Sadao Kanezaki. Note that both of these files are for members only, and can be unlocked using the password posted to the JAT list on December 20, 2007.

As part of our effort to allow all JAT members to enjoy membership perks once privy only to those of us in Tokyo, we are kicking off an effort to broadcast all of our monthly meetings, over the web. Note that these videos require the password posted to the JAT mailing list, which is only available to members.

Says JATter James Phillips (who has been kind enough to take care of the recording and editing):

We are pleased to announce that a video of the presentation given by Juliet Carpenter, a well-known translator of books and literature, to the JAT members on Saturday December 8th, 2007 is now online. Enjoy Juliet giving an account of the trials and tribulations involved in being a literary translator.

A wide array of tricky translation tasks are covered, from how to describe emotions felt when listening to music, how to describe how somebody has been murdered, and even how to deal with whether or not to use the “F” word (gasp!). This was a fascinating presentation that will be of particular interest to those involved in the field of literary translation but can still be enjoyed by anybody with an interest in the translation business. The video is split into two halves, with the first half lasting just over an hour and the second half lasting approximately forty minutes. Enjoy!

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Dan Castellano has graciously provided materials from his presentation at the September JAT meeting, about email and business etiquette. You can view them inline here, or download them in PDF format.
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