St. John s College,
Cambridge,

19‑
12‑28.
Dear Nishina,
Many thanks for your letters.
journey.

工 hope you will have had a good

All that has been definitely arranged in America for me so far is
to be in Madison during April and May.

I expect I shall remain in

America during June and July． 工 ought to be back in Cambridge by about
the 10th October, so that I think the best time for me to visit Japan
would be the end of August and first half of September. I suppose it
would be too hot to come earlier. I could perhaps stay till a little
later than the middle of September if I then come back across Siberia.
Remember me to Sugiura. With best wishes,
Yours sincerely,
P. A. M. Dirac

Institute of Physical andChemical Research,
Hongo, Komagome, Tokyo
April 20, 1929.
Dear Dirac,This is the answer to your letter of the 19th Dec. which I received
with many thanks.
Different circumstances have prevented me fromwriting to you before.

I suppose you are already in America and am

2sending this letter to Madison.
On coming back here, I spoke with Professor Nagaoka about yourletter. We should be very much pleased if you would come over here on
your way home, so that we all can see you and hear from you some latest
news in physics.

Certainly you will not be interested in Japanesephysics which is not verystrong, but our country is unique in somerespects and we hope that may interest you.
One of the reasons why I could not write this letter before is that
we were unable to find the means of paying your journey expense. As you
know Japan is not rich and we cannot offer you very much.

What we cando for you is as follows. The difference in the journey expense between
two routes 1) San Francisco ー＞

Tokyo ‑> Siberia ‑> London and 2
) New

・

York‑> England,and the expense for a fortnight s stay in Japan will be
defrayed by us. For these we have roughly calculated as follows ,̲$ 300

1) San Francisco ー＞ Yokohama
Tokyo ‑> London via Siberia$ 250

Sleeper, meal etc. in Siberia

$ 1
50

事 700

事 250

2
) New York‑> England

Difference 事 450
Expense for a fortnight s stay in Japan

$ 200

Total

$ 650

We can offer this sum ( $650 ) to you.

If you have an opportunity of

3coming as far as Berkeley, your journey to Japan will be more favorable,
because the difference in the expense ‑ as well as in time ‑ between
two routes

1) San Francisco → Japan 司

Francisco → New York

Siberia → London and

2
) San

→ England is smaller than the above figure.

We hope that you will be able to give us here four or five lectures
andsome opportunities of having a close contact with you and with newphysics. We hope too that you will stay in Japan as long as possible.
Ifyou

stay here more than a fortnight, we shall, of course,

correspondingly increase the above figure for the expense.
One thing which I am afraid is that the time of your visit is notvery favorable. It is still hot for you in September, especially in the
beginning of the month. At this time we have neither cherry‑blossoms
nor chrysanthemum‑flowers. You have to keep this in your mind.
Please let me know your future intention in any case.

If youdecide tocome over, please let me know as soon as possible.
Anticipating a good news from you,With best wishes,
Yours sincerely,
Y. Nishina
P.
S. Sugiura sends you kind regards; he is very much looking forward toseeing you here.
I have written a similar letter to Heisenberg asking if he cancome over here on his way home.

4

THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN
MADISON
DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS
11‑5‑29
Dear Nishina,
Many thanks for your letter and kind invitation to Japan. I amvery glad of this opportunity of visiting your country.

I met

Heisenberg a few weeks ago in Chicago and we settled that we should
leave for Japan together some time about the middle of August.

Since

then we have practically decided to leave from San Francisco on August
16 in the steamer President Taft of the

Dollar Line, arriving in

Yokohama on September 2 after stopping at Honolulu.
I should be glad to give some lectures in Japan as you suggest. I
expect to stay for a day or two more than a fortnight, the exact day I
must leave depending on the trains across Siberia.

Could you let meknow just how long it takes to get from Tokio to Moscow ？ 工 have notbeen able to get any reliable information on this point. Heisenberg
intends to return via 工ndia.
Will you please address any reply to
The University (Physics Dept.)
Ann Arbor,
Michiganwhere I shall remain from June 22 till about August 3rd. Heisenberg isstaying in Chicago all the time except for short visits to all parts ofAmerica. I believe he is now in California.
I am looking forward very much to my visit to Japan and to meeting5

you and Sugiura again
Yours sincerely,
P. A. M. Dirac

11th. June, 29.
Dear Dirac,
Many thanks for your letter of the 11th. May, which I received
about ten days ago. We are all looking forward very much to your visit,
which we hope you will enjoy, although the season will, as I wrote toyou, be fairly disagreeable at the time.
As regards your journey through Siberia，工 enclose herewith a copyof the time‑table which I obtained at the Japan Tourist Bureau here. As
you see, it takes 11,5 days from here to Moscow and 3 days from Moscow
to London, thus taking about 15 days in all, if you do not break yourjourney at all. They told me that it will be all right, if one reserves
the seat two or three weeks in advance． 工f you want, I shall be pleased
to reserve the seat for you. In that case will you please let me know
the date of your departure and the classof your car. The throughticket from here to London costs about Yen 650 for the first class andYen 570 or 580 for the second. One Pound Sterling is about 11 Yen atpresent.
By the same mail 工 received a letter from Heisenberg at Pasadena.
He mentioned that he intends to give five lectures here and will speakwith you about the matter in order to avoid coincidence. As soon as the
subjects on which your lecture become definite, please let me know, sothat we can give our preliminary programme.
I should like to add that our invitation was enabled by the6Keimei‑Kai foundation, a foundation for the advancement of intellectual
culture, to which Professor Nagaoka applied for your journey expense.
Looking forward to the second of September,Yours Sincerely,
Y. Nishina

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
ANN ARBOR
DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS

・

27 June 29
Dear Nishina,
Many thanks for your letter and the Trans‑Siberian time‑table,
which is very complete, I think it would be better if you do not reservea seat for me yet, as I am not yet quite sure of my route. There is avery small probability that I may visit Peking (or Pei‑Ping, as it is
now called). I think it would be early enough if a seat is reserved forme when I am in Japan.
I shall arrange with Heisenberg the subject of my lectures and let
you know about it as soon as possible.
I am sending you, under a separate cover, a reprint of my paper on
the Basis of Statistical Quantum Mechanics． 工 have not yet received thereprints of my paper on the QM of many‑electron systems, but will let
you have one when they arrive.
Please give my best thanks to the Keimei‑Kai foundation for theirgenerosity in providing for my visit to Japan.

7Best wishes to you and to Sugiura,
Yours sincerely,
P. A.M. Dirac

July 16th. 29.
Dear Dirac,
Many thanks for your letter of the 27th. June. As you wrote, weshall reserve your seat in the Trans‑Siberian train after your arrival,
to which we are all looking forward.
For last few days, the newspapers here have been reporting thetension in the Russo‑Chinese relation with regard to the Eastern Chinese
Railway, which connects South Manchuria with Central Siberia and also
Vladivostock with Central Siberia, both via Harbin. To‑day s newspapers
say that Russians have broken the latter connexion. The former one,however,with which you will have to travel on your way home, has notbeen touched, but they say that Russians might close the frontier
between China. I do not know how far these news are reliable.
工 have made inquiries about the matter at the Japan Tourist Bureau

here, but they cannot, of course, give any definite answer as to thecondition there at the middle of September. We hope that the troubles
will have been settled by that time. In case anyhow anything serious
may happen, I shall let you know as soon as possible.
that I ought to inform you of the present news.

I thought only

工f you could not travel by way of Manchuria, you could cross to

Vladivostock and then get to Central Siberia without coming into
Manchuria, so long as Russians do not close Siberia for foreigners. That
will take some days more than usual.

In case this route were also

closed,you would have to travel by steamer either via 工ndian Ocean or8

via America, that will of course take nearly three weeks more. They
seem at present to be optimistic about the matter and to think that thistrouble will soon be over, we all hope so. So long as you do not hearanything from me, you need not bother about the matter.
With best wishes,
Yours Sincerely
Y. Nishina

30th. July, 29.
Dear Dirac,I hope you had received, before you left Ann Arbor, my letter ofthe 16th. inst. informing you of the Russo‑Chinese relation in North
Manchuria.

Unfortunately the troubles have not yet been settled. We

hope very much, but do not know, that the original condition will havebeen restored by the time you leave Japan, so that you can travel via
Harbin.
At

present,

however,

there

is

a

train

connexion

betweenVladivostock and Moscow via Chabarowsk and Tchita without touching
Manchuria. This train runs regularly once a week and the journey takes
a few days more than that through Manchuria; they say the journey isquite all right. 工t will therefore be all right for you to go back to
England, even if the condition in North Manchuria remain the same as it
is now. I enclose herewith a time table for your journey to Europe.
I am sending you by separate post a small book for Japanese
language, which might interest you and might be useful for you.
The programme for your stay here will be made according to yourtaste and convenience.

That will definitely be fixed after yourdec土sion as to when you leave Japan.

I have written to‑day to9Heisenberg about his possible plan and that might give you some idea
about yours.
Looking forward very much to seeing you again at Yokohama Pier.
市
ム

v
a

e
r
e
c

内

n
−
．
b

O

Vゐ

s
r
u

a
n

h
−
−
s

e
qde
e
q
−−d

﹂

1 1

n
o

h

M

0r
・
−
p hu
m
sc
a

J

L
−

N

目
↑CM

−

y

13‑10‑29
Dear Nishina,
I would like to thank you very much for the splendid time I had inJapan. It was very good of you and Sugiura to give up so much of yourtime to showing me round and I enjoyed it very much.
I arrived back in Cambridge on the night of the 1Oth. While in
Moscow the Leningrad physicists persuaded me to change my plans andvisit Leningrad for two days, after which I went to Berlin by air, tomake up for lost time, and then came here via Vlissingen and Harwich.
The journey across Siberia was very interesting・ It was already very
cold in places.
Please remember me to Takamine, Nakamura, Sugiura, Kimura and theother physicists in Tokio.
With best wishes
Yours sincerely,
P. A. M. Dirac10
工nstitute of Physical andChemical Research
Komagome, Hongo, Tokio

13‑2‑30
Dear Dirac,thI thank you for your kind letter of the 13
一
Oct.,which I received
some months ago.

I am very pleased to hear that you enjoyed your stayin Japan. I also enjoyed those pleasant days which I spent with you,and I often think of them.

We had much benefit of your interesting

lectures, the fruit of which, however, we have to wait in future.
I enclose herewith some pictures which I took on that occasion.
They might remind you of the happenings during your stay here. You seethat Heisenberg s shoes could not escape all the same.
I thank you very much for your kind sending of the separate copy ofyour 笠包金旦己主Linterestinq paper "A Theory of Electrons and ProtonsJ
It arrived here a week earlier than the journal itself and consequently
it was very useful for us all. One thing in the paper, which I have notunderstood yetis：

Whether any fundamental assumption is necessary or

not for preventing the electron of positive energy from falling into thehole, which we find in the nucleus of every atom．

If I am notmistaken, the probability of the transition itself does not seem
negligible, for instance, in case of hydrogen, in comparison with theordinary transition between some energy levels.
Professor Bohr does not come to Japan this spring but in about
April next year
With best wishes
Yours sincerely
Y. Nishina

11

Nishina −ー＞ Dirac (draft, date unknown)
Dear Dirac,
A friend of mine Mr. U. Doi here, has proposed me to translate yourbook on quantum mechanics into Japanese, in joint‑name with him.

I

agree with him that it is a very useful thing for people here to have atranslation of such an excellent book, and although I have very little
time to spare at present, I might try to undertake the task if you give
us your consent. The translation must be very accurate. You cannot of
course see if it is so, but 工 shall take the responsibility for that if
I begin at all. I should be much obliged if you would let me know what
you think of the matter.

e

﹃

9
e
le

円﹂ l
・

︑ム門ヲ

Od

J

r
sb
m
−
・
na
o
hc

争L

C
J
V

．

22‑4‑31

Dear Nishina,
I should, of course, be very glad to have my book translated into
Japanese and will give you any help I can in the matter.

It is,

however, necessary for the publishers of the book (The Clarendon Press,
Oxford) also to agree.

I have written to them about it and they say

they want a small royalty, as the Japanese book would replace theEnglish one in Japan. They will be writing to you directly about theirterms, and you should get the letter a few days after mine.
If you decide to proceed with the translation, I should be glad tosend you a list of mis‑prints and other corrections, which have been
pointed out to me by various people.
Yours sincerely,
P. A. M. Dirac12

Any reply should be addressed to the Secretary

The Clarendon Press
OxfordPlease quote A.2421/K.
S.
5th May, 1931
Dear Sir,
Dr. Dirac has referred to us your request to make a Japanesetranslation of his book on♀旦主旦主旦旦竺主主主主旦主主主・ We should be glad to give
permission for this on the following conditions：ー(1) An outright payment of￡ 1O for every 500 copies printed to be madeby your publisher when the agreement is signed.
(2) Two copies of the book to be placed at our disposal when it ispublished, free of charge.
(3) Any altered matter in the book to be at our free disposal for any
future edition we might publish.
(4) Your publisher would have no subsidiary rights, i.e. no right toallow translation from Japanese into any other language.
I shall be glad to know if these terms are acceptable to you andyour publisher, and the offer will remain open for three months fromthis date.
Yours truly,
Kennett Sisam
Dr. Y.Nishina
Institute of Physical and Chemical Research,
Komagome, Hongo,
Tokyo.

13

15.6.1931
Dear DiracThank you very much indeed for your kind letter of the 22nd of
April, which I received nearly three weeks ago. As the letter from theClarendon Press which you referred in your letter did not arrive here
until a few days ago, I have not been able to write to you.

I am

pleased to accept all the terms which the publisher wrote to me and weshall proceed with the translation. I should be very much obliged toyou if you should send me a list of mis‑prints and other corrections ofwhich you wrote to me in your last letter.
As I have not much time at present, the translation might not be
ready before long, but I hope to finish it as soon as possible.
Yours Sincerely
Y.Nishina

14.6.1931
To the manager,
The Clarendon Press
OxfordDear Sir,I beg to acknowledge with thanks the receipt of your letter
A2421/K.
S. of the 5th May and should like to inform you that I and my
publisher are pleased to accept all the terms you wrote to me regarding
the Japanese translation of Dr. Dirac S Quantum Mechanics, with which
work I should like soon to proceed.
Yours Sincerely
Y. Nishina

14

E晶

e
q
J
e

︑︑ム

o
c

wd

円
nd

m

se

hI
o
r

a

−

Jb

↑﹂戸﹂

CM

10 7‑3
1
邑

Dear Nishina,
I am very glad to hear that you have agreed with the Clarendon
Press and will proceed with the translation. I have enclosed a list ofcorrections on two separate sheets. Several of them are trivial.
It is likely that there will be a second edition of the book in
about a year from now. If the Japanese translation takes a long time,
it might be worth while to delay publication of it until you canintroduce into it the changes made in the second edition. These will
perhaps be ready in the Spring of next year.

The biggest changes willprobably be in the first chapter, which I shall try to make easier for
beginners.
I shall be going to America at the end of this month and shall be
lecturing in Princeton from October to December.

If you write to me

again this year will you address the letter to
c/o Prof. Veblen
The University
Princeton
New Jersey
U. S. A.

I shall return to Cambridge at the beginning of January.
Yours sincerely,
P. A. M. Dirac15

10‑8‑1931
Dear Dirac,Thank you very much indeed for your kind letter of the 10主且 July as
well as the list of corrections, which I received about'ten days ago.
As regards the translation, progress is very slow and as you haveadvised me we shall delay our publication until we get the second
edition, so that we can introduce the changes to be made.
I hope you will enjoy your stay in Princeton. Owing to financial
reasons, I am sorry that we cannot invite you here this time, although I
am very anxious to do so.

a

a
n

CM

目
︑
hH

y
e −−

lN

司品

b
円

e
r −
ey
c
n

s
z

y

u
o

16

円

、
．
、

Nach vielen Festlichkeiten senden
viele Grusse aus Stockholm
Werner Heisenberg
P. A. M. Dirac
E. Schrodinger
Annie Heisenberg, Munchen
Annemarie Sehr己
dinger17
THE INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED STUDYSCHOOL OF MATHEMAT工cs
FINE HALL
PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY
6‑0ct‑1934
Dear Nishina,
Some time ago you mentioned to me the possibility of making a
Japanese translation of my book. We agreed that it would be better towait for the second edition.

I have now finished writing the second

edition and it is in the press.

(Most of the first edition has beenrewritten, in an attempt to make it easier to understand, and there aresome additions, including a chapter on the quantum theory of fields.
) Do
you still think a Japanese translation is desirable ?

If so, thepresent time would be the best time for it.
工 shall be spending a year in Princeton, so please reply to me

here.
With best wishes
Yours sincerely,.
P. A. M. Dirac

17.
12.
1934
Dear Dirac,thThank you very much for your letter of the 6‑Oct. With respect
to the Japanese translation of your book, we have decided to proceed andshould be much obliged to you, if you would send me a copy of the newedition as soon as possible.

Since we first planned to make thetranslation, the financial situation of Japan has changed a great deal

18
and value of our currency has been reduced to less than one half. This
made our publisher difficult to publish a translation. Perhaps I shallonce more write to your publisher in England and ask under what
conditions we can make the translation.
Yours Sincerely,
Y. Nishina

THE INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED STUDYSCHOOL OF MATHEMATICS
FINE HALL
PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY
12 1‑35

Dear Nishina,
I was very glad to hear that you will go on with the Japanesetranslation of my book and have written to the English publishers to ask
them to send you a copy of the new edition as soon as possible. I havejust finished the proofs and returned the last of them. More than halfof the first edition has been completely rewritten and, I think, mademu.
ch easier to understand. I have also told the English publishers thatyou would like to discuss the financial conditions again, owing to thedepreciation of the Japanese currency.

Could you please write about

this toK. Sisam Esq.
The Clarendon Press,
Oxford,England
With best wishes,
Yours Sincerely
P. A. M. Dirac19
THE INSTITUTE OF PHYSICAL AND
CHEMICAL RESEARCH
KOMAGOME, HONGO, TOKYOTOKYO, 11th. Feb. 1935
Dear Sir,
In your letter A.2421/K.
S.of the 5th. May, 1931, you informed meof the conditions on which you would like to give us permission for a
Japanese translation of Prof. Dirac s book on

Quantum

Theory".

Thereupon I answered to you on the 14th. June, 1931, that we accepted
all the terms you wrote to me.
Soon after I wrote to you, Prof. Dirac informed me in July, 1931
that a second edition of the book would probably appear in about ayear s time and it might be worth while to delay the publication of theJapanese translation. We therefore agreed to wait for the new edition.
Now Prof. Dirac wrote to me last October that the second edition
was finished and asked me whether we still thought of its translation.
I then informed him of our intention of doing the task and asked him tosend me a copy of the new edition as soon as possible. Some days ago heanswered me that he asked you to send me the copy.
Now I should like to discuss with you the financial conditions
about this translation, because the financial situation of Japan has、

charged a great deal since I wrote to you last in 1931.

The value of

our currency has been reduced these last two years to less than one halfin terms of pounds sterling・ This depreciation of our currency made ourpublisher very

difficult to publish a translation, especially since

books are to be sold at very low prices, if one wants to have areasonable profit at all.

Under these circumstances, I should like to

ask you if you could lower the amount of the outright payment, which you
prop
osed to beJ,
1
0 for every 500 copies printed.

Of course we could

proceed on the original terms, if you would insist, I am, however,20
afraid that the sale would be poor. I should be much obliged for yourkind considerations.
In any case 工 should be thankful for you, if you would send me a
copy of the new edition as soon as possible. The proof‑sheets would do
as well.
Thanking you in anticipation,
Yours sincerely
Y. Nishina
K. Sisam Esq.,
The Clarendon Press,
Oxford, England.

Any reply should be addressed to the secretary

The Clarendon Press
OxfordPlease quote A.2421/K.S.
8th March,1935
Dear Sir,
Thank you for your letter of 11th February. I am today sending youa copy of the new edition of Dirac s ♀旦旦包虫竺旦且盟主主 for your use in
making a Japanese translation.
I am afraid, however, that we cannot reduce our fee of t
10 forevery 500 copies printed.

This is a very important book, and theJapanese market is an important one for a work of this kind.

Moreover,the new edition is considerably larger than the first, so that yourpublisher has the advantage of terms quoted for a shorter book.
I am sorry that we cannot reduce the fee, but I do not think youneed fear that the sales will be poor, as the book has been received

21

everywhere with the greatest enthusiasm.

Yours truly,
Kennett Sisam

Dr. Y. Nishina
The Institute of Physical andChemical Research
Komagome, Hongo,
Tokyo, Japan.

TELEGRAM*1935.4.3

PRINCETON −ー＞ KOMAGOMEI INTEND COMING TO JAPAN IN JUNE AND RETURNING ACROSSSIBERIA SEE YOU AND SUGIURA DIRAC*1935.4.ー

KOMAGOME−ー＞

PRINCETONHEARTY WELCOME HOW LONG CAN YOU STAY JAPAN*1935.4.10

NISHINA

PR工NCETON −ー＞ KOMAGOMEWILL STAY JAPAN ABOUT THREE WEEKS BEGINNING APPROXIMATELYMIDDLE OF JUNE WILL W工RE ARRIVAL DATE LATER*1935.5.12

PRINCETON −ー＞ KOMAGOMEARRIVING JUNE NINETEEN ASAMA MARU DIRAC*1935.5.14

KOMAGOME幽幽〉PR工NCETONLOOKING FORWARD ASAMA MARU
*1935.6.ー

KOMAGOME−ー＞

NISHINA

PRINCETONCAN YOU LECTURE 24 AND 25 JUNE NISHINA*1935.6.12

PRINCETON −ー＞ KOMAGOMELECTURE TIMES ALRIGHT DIRAC

DIRAC

22

必竺〉

Tokio, 4‑7‑35
Dear Bohr,
Dirac has been here already two weeks and weare enjoying his stay very much. And so is he.
We are all expecting you here in 1937 and arehoping Heisenberg will come with you.
Honourable greetings from

Y. Nishina

P. A. M. Dirac

23
Tokyo, 30th. July 1935
THE INSTITUTE OF PHYSICAL AND
CHEMICAL RESEARCH
KOMAGOME, HONGO, TOKYO

Kennett Sisam, Esq.
,
The Clarendon Press, Oxford, England
Dear Sir,
Thank you for your letter A.
2421/K.
S. of the 8th. March as well as・a copy of the new edition of Dirac s Quantum Mechanics, both of which I
received at the beginning of April. On account of the negotiations withmy publisher as well as my absence from Tokyo, I am sorry that 工 havenot been able to answer to you.
My publisher has at last accepted to pay the fee of J,
1
0 for every
500 copies printed, as you wrote to me, and we are now proceeding withthe translation.
During my conversations with the publisher I learned the situation
with regard to the translation of foreign books in Japan. As a rule thesale of the translation is poor in this country, especially ofscientific books. The sale of the original, however, is much increased
here by the publication of the translation which serves as a sort ofadvertisement. You will see whether this is the case with Dirac s book.
If it turns out to be so, you would probably agree with my publisher in

reducing the fee.
Yours Sincerely
Y. Nishina

24

Any reply should be addressed to the Secretary

The Clarendon Press
OxfordPlease quote A.2421/K.
S.
19th August, 1935
Dear Sir,
Thank you for your letter of 30th July, informing us that yourpublisher had agreed to the fee ofJ,10 for every 500 copies printed of
the Japanese translation of Dirac s 2
些旦巳旦坐虫盟主主・ Perhaps you willkindly ask your publisher to communicate with us direct, when we should
be glad to discuss any financial matter. At the moment I do not think
we have your publisher s name and address.
Yours truly,
Kennett Sisam
Dr. Y.Nishina

1
1‑2 1936
Dear Dirac,
As regards the Japanese translation of your book, I should like to
ask you whether you think it advisable to add to it also the Japanesetranslation of the supplement which you gave for the Russian edition,
which one of our co‑workers read some time ago. We could translate itfrom Russian or from the original if possible. We think ourselves thatthe addition would be

useful for our readers, although it is notessential. What do you think about the matter ?

I suppose that theRussian publisher would give us consent for the translation.
I should like to ask you one thing more. We should・like very muchto have some words (in English of course) from you for the Japanese25translation. It may either be a preface or a postscript or in any form
you choose.

Our translation with such an addition would be highly

valued by our readers to whom you lectured more than once.
we have gone through our translation in a preliminary stage but it
will take some time before we send it to the press.
I presume that you have been getting on very well ever since youwere back in Cambridge.

一瞬一
瞬
一

With best wishes
Yours sincerely
Y. N.

St.John s College
Cambridge
25‑3‑36

Dear Nishina,
工 have enclosed a short Preface to Japanese Edition and also themanuscript about Approximate Methods which was included in the Russian
edition. I think it would be useful to include it also in the Japaneseedition.

The Russians do not have any copyright agreements with othercountries, so I do not suppose it is necessary to get their permission.
Please return the manuscript to me when finished with, because I have noother copy of it.
The seals in the top left‑hand corner were given to me by thephysicists in Peiping. Can you read them?

Please let me know how the translation is getting on.

26
Kind regards to you and Nagaoka and Sugiura,
Yours sincerely
P. A. M. Dirac

主 主 主 旦 主2 邑盟主笠豆旦註旦旦During my visits to Japan in 1929 and 1935 I have several times had
the pleasure of lecturing to a Japanese audience on questions connectedwith the modern quantum mechanics.

I am now very glad to be able topresent a general account of the subject to a wider circle of Japanese
students through the appearance of a Japanese translation of my book.
Cambridge, March 1936

27

4
j寸 ょヂ斗 26ψ
え−
v1
d

・i
︐ ゃ
M
3 ？ ？ ィ3741ュム 了 jL44宇5436qeiL
1
・

P
i ・
．3J41tぜ F31j れ
3 6 J OdH
dw1デ qぜや uj213ndhご

jij1413jJ547jazidhdvfLjJ

rfd

・
・4
3
4・2J1
J2M わ h235一jidhu−

28

THE INSTITUTE OF PHYSICAL AND
CHEMICAL RESEARCH
KOMAGOME, HONGO, TOKYOTokyo, April 25, 1936
Dear Dirac,I thank you very much for your kind letter of the 25th. March, ashort ・ Preface to Japanese Edition" of your book, and the manuscript
about

Approximate Methods" which is to be included in the Japanese

Edition.
We have just sent our translation to the press without the Preface
and the Approximate Methods, both of which will be added later, since itwill take some months before it comes out of press.
We shall send your manuscript of the Approximate Methods" back to
you as soon as we finish with it.
工 have enclosed a typed

Preface to Japanese Edition".

Ourpublisher would like very much to have your signature which was not
given to the original. Please put your signature to the typed copy andreturn it to me.
The seals which were given to you by the Peiping physicists arevery interesting・ I can read the lower one at once but the upper one
with some difficulty. I can see what a great difference exists between
our pronunciation and the present Chinese for the same character.

Ourpronunciation seems to originate in the old Chinese.
I read your interesting paper on the conservation laws in Nature.
Have you any other reasons than Shankland s experiments, B‑ray spectrum
and probably the complicatedness of the present quantum electrodynamics

29
that make you believe in the invalidity of the conservation laws in the
micro‑physics.
With best wishes
yours
Y. Nishina

THE INSTITUTE OF PHYSICAL AND
CHEMICAL RESEARCH
KOMAGOME, HONGO, TOKYOTokyo, May 5th, 1936
Dear Dirac,I enclose herewith the manuscript of the Approximate Methods withwhich we have finished our translation. We have just received the proofof the first chapter of the translation. On account of some changes wehave to make, it will take some time before we get the proof of thesucceeding chapters.
With best wishes
Yours
Y. Nishina

ST JOHN S COLLEGECAMBRIDGE
22‑5‑36
Dear Nishina,
I have enclosed the typed Preface to Japanese Edition ．

30
The only reasons I have for believing in non‑conservation are theones you mentioned, the strongest one being the unsatisfactory nature of

ハ⁝

P.A. M. Dirac

伝

Yours sincerely,

週週二尚一
一

With best wishes膏毒味町駅 MJ刻
一
一
γ﹈
事
層
t

the present quantum electrodynamics.

THE INSTITUTE OF PHYSICAL AND
CHEMICAL RESEARCH
KOMAGOME, HONGO, TOKYOTokyo, August 1, 1936
Dear Dirac,
On coming back from the solar eclipse expedition about a month ago,
I received with much appreciation your kind letter of the 22nd May
together with the typed Preface to Japanese Edition" of your book, theproof of which we are going through 七hese days. We expect it soon comeout of the press.
With best wishes,
Y9urs sincerely
Y. Nishina
P.S. I have just received a letter from Bohr that he will come overhere next April with Mrs. Bohr and Hans by way of America.

3
1

December 16, 1948
Dr. P.A.
M. Dirac
St. John s College
Cambridge, England

Dear Dirac:I learned that the renewed edition of your book on the principles
of quantum mechanics has recently been published.

Tomonaga and others

who translated the former edition into Japanese would like to translate
the new edition in the same way, if you and your publisher would give us
approval.
I should be much obliged for your kind information.
Yours
Y. Nishina
P.
S. It is not possible for us to obtain your book and I should be muchobliged, if you would send me a copy.

担旦旦呈主主A− 司 ム 円3

＆

r
ed

M

P

c
a

D
9n
−e
．
目︑．
︑a
Aon
．
CE

s
・

−

e
r
on9
shd

sLhu

ngquF﹂

0 ・m
EL
ら a

s
o
eJr

April 8, 1952

Dear Professor Dirac:
We are sure you would rememb
er that the late Dr. Nishina wrote to32

you three years ago and got your permission for translation of the third
edition of your book on Principles of Quantum Mechanics ．
After the death of Dr. Nishina, we, having been his assistants intranslating the former edition, succeeded his work, and have justfinished the translation. We should be very much obliged if you will
give us your permission for its publication.
There is another question on which we would like to ask youropinion.

As you know, the former Japanese edition contains anadditional chapter on Approximate Methods as the Russian edition does.
We translated it from your English manuscript which you kindly sent us.
As we think that this additional chapter will undoubtedly be very
helpful for Japanese students as it was before, we would rather include
it in our new Japanese edition if you will approve it. 工n that case, wewant to make necessary changes in notation in order to adjust it to therenewed edition.

We can assure you that we will do these changes

properly if you will leave this work to us.
We should be much obliged for your kind information.
Very cordially yours,
Sin‑itiro Tomonaga
Hidehiko Tamaki

7, Cavendish Avenue
Cambridge

30,4,52

Dear Tomonaga,
Thank you for your letter of the 8th April. I would like to know

33

who you have in mind for the publishers of the Japanese‑translation of
my book. Some two years ago it was arranged that Iwanami Shoten shouldhave the publishing rights of my book in Japan, so it would not be
permissible now to proceed with another publisher.
Yours sincerely,
P. A. M. Dirac

There must have been an exchange of letters in between.

June 10, 1952
Professor P.
A.
M. Dirac
7 Cavendish Avenue
Cambridge, England

Dear Dr. Dirac:Thank you for your letter of May 26. I told 工wanami Shoten what
was written in your letter. They were very grateful for your permission
and asked me to convey their thanks to you.
Do you remember that you gave them a preface for our translation of
the former edition of your book? We should appreciate very much if you
will be so kind to write another one for our forth‑coming translation.
With all my best wishes,
S

T

a︐
q
a
n
o
m
o

o

A

v −

v
d−

rr
u
o
・
・
争
︑

I．
n

e −
r
s−

e
e
n

v
d

r

s
−
−

e
v

ST:sy

34

Dirac ‑ Nishina, Correspondence

E呈2全

Date

Place

Name

Cambridge

19/XII

1928

Tokyo

20/IV

1929

From Dirac

Madison, Wisconsin

11/V

1929

4

To

From Dirac
To

Dirac

Tokyo

11/VI

1929

5

From Dirac

Ann Arbor, Michigan

27/VI

1929

6

To

To
kyo

16/VII

1929

7
8

Dirac
Dirac

Tokyo

30/VII

1929

From Dirac。 DiracCambridge

13/X

1929

9

T

Tokyo

13／
工
工

1930

10

To

Tokyo

つ

To

Dirac

Dirac

1
1
1
1

From Dirac

Cambridge

22/IV

1931

From The Clarendon Press

Oxford

5/V

1931

12

To

Tokyo

15/VI

1931

13

Oxford

14/VI

1931

13
14

To

Dirac
The Clarendon Press

From Dirac

Cambridge

10/VII

1931

To

Tokyo

10/VIII

193
1

Dirac

15
16

From Dirac, et al.

Stockholm (Post Card)

From DiracPrinceton

6/X

1934

17

To

Tokyo

17/X工
工

1934

17

Princeton

12／工

1935

18

Oxford

11/II

1935

19

From The Clarendon Press

Oxford

8/III

1935

20

To/From Dirac, Nishina

Princeton, Tokyo

3/IV‑12/V工 1935

21

4/VII

1935

22

30/VII

1935

23

Dirac

From DiracTo

The Clarendon Press(Telegrams)
To

Bohr

From Dirac,

Tokyo(Post Card)

NishinaTo

The Clarendon Press

Oxford

35

Name

Place

Date

E主~

From The Clarendon Press

Oxford19/VII工

1935

24

To

Tokyo

1
1／
工Z

1936

24

From Dirac

Cambridge

25/III

1936

25

To

Dirac

Tokyo

25/IV

1936

28

To

Dirac

Tokyo

5/V

1936

29

From Dirac

Cambridge

22/V

1936

29

To

Dirac

Tokyo

1/VI工
工

1936

30

To

Dirac

Cambridge

16/X工
工

1948

3
1

8／工V

1952

3
1

30／
工V

1952

32

10/VI

1952

33

Dirac

AppendixTo

Dirac From Tomonaga, Tokyo
Tamaki

From Dirac To
To

Tomonaga Cambridge

Dirac From Tomonaga Tokyo