What happened when Shakespeare's works, which belong to a long and sophisticated tradition, met another long and sophisticated tradition which was completely different? Trying to sort out this extremely complicated questions would at first take on the tragic overtones of one of the Bard's works, but the authors concentrate on the adaptations and translations of Shakespeare's works, and Japanese productions and creative critiques. In the case of adaptation and translation, they focus on the work of Tsubouchi, Fukada and Kinoshita in bringing Shakespeare's work into Japanese culture and language, making it accessible at the very least at the specialist level. The authors then describe how the Japanese stage, literary, and film tradition took on Shakespeare's works, not so much as a foreign artifact but as a cross-cultural narrative. Particularly interesting is their commentary on Kurosawa's adaptations and interpretations. Annotation c2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
