Seidensticker reading comment - Kohki

 The first thing I found interesting in the article is that you have to sacrifice rhythm over explanation/direct translation and vice versa in translation, especially between Japanese and English since they are so different from each other. I'd never really cared about the rhythm of sentences when translating, and the Hamlet example was really convincing since the original line is beautifully written and its beauty comes from not only from the words' meaning but from the rhythm of it. I feel like there are other trade-offs like that in translation, such as that between the direct translation and indirect translation that focuses more on the semantics. 

 The author prefers to have clarity in translation, such as in the last scene of The Izu Dancer. If I had to choose, I would be on Kawabata's side, since the absence of subject is a unique, essential aspect of the Japanese language. In daily conversations, Japanese people don't really mention subjects unless they are really necessary, but they can perfectly and effortlessly understand what others mean, and it's just what it is in Japan. Moreover, In the case of Snow Country, I prefer the second version of the translation of the opening line's second sentence. The first version "The earth lay white under the night sky" doesn't quite capture the ambiguity and mysteriousness of it. In both cases, I think ambiguity is an important "spice" that makes Kawabata's literature great and so Japanese. It leaves interpretation up to the reader/audience, as can be seen in literature and movies. In that way, American and Japanese movies differ so much, such as Ghibli movies v.s. Marvel movies which have a clear structure and can easily be interpreted.