APJ Japanese-English Bilingual Glossary Released on the Research Portal “Art Platform Japan.”

The APJ Japanese-English Bilingual Glossary (APJ Glossary), a Japanese-to-English glossary of specialized terminology related to art, has been released on Art Platform Japan (APJ), a research portal that gathers extensive information on modern and contemporary Japanese art and on museum collections across Japan, and makes it available both in Japan and overseas.

APJ Glossary was created to improve the accuracy of English translations of terminology related to modern and contemporary Japanese art and to promote international understanding. It includes terms that reflect the specific contexts of modern and contemporary Japanese art, such as art organizations, institutional systems, and exhibitions.

This Glossary grew out of the process of translating artist biographies in the Dictionary of Artists in Japan (DAJ). DAJ is one of the databases on APJ and provides information in both Japanese and English. When translating the biographies from Japanese into English, we encountered difficulties because many terms related to modern and contemporary Japanese art did not have established English translations. Therefore, we began compiling a list of terms and sharing it between translators and editors, which eventually led to the creation of APJ Glossary.

Each entry includes Transliteration, an English Translation, and the Japanese Name. Brief explanations have been added to selected entries so that users can distinguish between the many closely related specialist terms found in the field of Japanese art.

We hope that APJ Glossary will help strengthen the international foundation for research, art criticism, and communication on Japanese art, thereby contributing to a deeper understanding of Japanese art and to raising its global presence.

APJ Glossary is available at the links below.