Talk:William Scott Wilson

message: Posted on Sun, Nov. 20, 2005
SOUTH MIAMI
Translator honored by Japan for work
South Miami resident William Scott Wilson was honored last week by the Japanese government for his contributions to its culture.
BY RISA BERRIN
For The Herald
When William Scott Wilson graduated from Dartmouth College, the South Florida native set off on a 1,200 mile canoeing trip along the Japanese coast.
He developed a passion for the country, which now -- four decades later -- he shares with the English-speaking world through his translations of Japanese classical literature.
Tuesday, the Consulate General of Japan awarded Wilson with his country's Foreign Minister's Commendation for his contributions to Japanese culture. The award was given to 23 others worldwide who helped strengthen ties between Japan and other countries.
Wilson, 61, was recognized for his numerous published translations of classical Japanese literature and for his one published original work, The Lone Samurai, a biography of Miyamoto Musashi. A Japanese swordsman, Musashi was a cultural icon of the late 16th and early 17th centuries.
By introducing classical literature to English-speaking countries, he contributed to a better understanding of Japanese culture and arts, said Masakuzu Toshikaje, the Consul General of Japan in Miami, who presented the award to Wilson at a Coral Gables reception.
Wilson said that his first trip to Japan was an awakening.
I had not known what I was doing with my life, said Wilson, who lives in South Miami. ``When I got there, I knew it was going to be there I would spend my energies.''
He developed a particular interest in the Japanese samurai culture. Wilson said these samurai warriors, who controlled Japan for about 800 years, embodied courage, honor, loyalty and sincerity, which became important values in Japan. The warriors were cultured men who were also painters and poets, he said.
They were people that were involved in a very straight-forward philosophy of life and death, courage and conviction and sincerity, he said.
Kate Barnes, who traveled with Wilson and another friend, Gary Haskins, to Japan in 1969, said she immediately noticed Wilson's passion for all things Japanese during that first trip together.
He had an almost inborn understanding of Japan, said Barnes, who is a freelance painter living in Cross Creek, Fla. ``I started Japanese language study at the same time as him but I was left in the dust by my good buddy. He had a natural ability for the language.''
Barnes said the three close friends refer to Japan as their second home, or what Barnes calls furrusato, which means homeland of the heart in Japanese.
Furrosato is usually meant as the place that they were born, but for us, our hearts keep being pulled back to Japan, Barnes said.
Since that trip in 1969, Wilson says he has yo-yo-ed back and forth between the United States and Japan. He married his first wife, Hattori, a Japanese woman and had two children with her, Matthew, 36, and Michelle, 33, who were both born in Japan.
I got myself a farmhouse in an old pottery village, he said. ``I took my kids to Japanese kindergarten, and I stayed home and translated.''
Wilson eventually returned to South Florida, where he grew up, in order to raise his children in Miami.
In the 1980s and '90s, Wilson taught Japanese and history at several local high schools, including Ransom Everglades, Miami Jackson, Miami Springs, MAST Academy and Braddock.
Braddock High is where Harry Muñiz accidentally encountered ``Mr. Wilson.''
I had signed up for a German class, said Muñiz, who is currently completing a master's of fine art at Berkeley University in California. 'Instead, I found out on the first day of class it was Japanese. I said `I've got to get out of here.' ''
But Wilson's dynamic teaching style convinced Muniz to stick it out -- and to study Japanese for the remainder of high school.
He has a charm about himself. He conveys things that might seem so obtuse and intellectual and make them sound down to earth, said Muñiz, 28.
Wilson's current wife, Emily, was a student of his in a Japanese language continuing education class at Ponce de Leon Middle School 10 years ago.
She fell in love with the language, and with the teacher.
This is his life's work. His love and his passion never wanes, never weakens, she said.
For the last five years, Wilson has been working from home as a full-time, free-lance writer and translator. He plans to have his 10th translation published by next summer. Wilson also intends to move to Japan temporarily in the next couple of years with Emily and their 2-year-old son, Henry Clay.
Robin Gill, who is also a writer and translator of Japanese works and lives in Key Biscayne, said Wilson is now synonymous with Japan.
'When you talk to someone down here about Japan, their first question is `Do you know Bill Wilson?'  Gill said.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/2005/12/04/news/local/s tates/florida/counties/miami-dade/cities_neighborhoods/cor al _gables/13209831.htm  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.6.206.163 (talk) 03:35, 10 December 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Miami Herald article on William Scott Wilson (no longer on website)