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About Us

130215 02 About Us

Poetry Kanto, Japan’s longest-running bilingual poetry journal, has a publication record spanning thirty years under the aegis of Kanto Gakuin University’s Kanto Poetry Center. During the three decades of its existence and through the efforts and support of its founders and the University, Poetry Kanto’s editors have helped to generate a unique and vital literary dialogue between East and West.

A Japan-based, English and Japanese bilingual poetry print journal founded and originally edited by award-winning translator William I. Elliott and internationally acclaimed poet Shuntaro Tanikawa, with the indispensable logistic support of Kazuo Kawamura, the annual journal, currently edited by Alan Botsford, has until 2013 been published by the Kanto Poetry Center at Kanto Gakuin University in Yokohama, Japan. As “one of the finest poetry journals in Japan,” (Koe Magazine) showcasing modern and contemporary Japanese poetry in English translation as well as contemporary English-language poetry from the USA, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, Wales, South Africa, Hong Kong, Canada, Ireland, and other countries, Poetry Kanto is known for featuring, according to Mythic Imagination Magazine, “outstanding poetry that navigates the divide of ocean and language from around the world.”

Poetry Kanto aims to promote dialogue between Japan and the English-speaking world. Each issue features an in-depth look at poets from both sides of the cultural divide. The hope is for readers to step outside their limited cultural spheres and engage in cross-cultural dialogue for a rebirth at the crossroads of culture and imagination.