Japan Times: court translators often lack necessary skills

Lindsay Hawker

The Japan Times reports that many errors by a court interpreter were observed in the trial of Tatsuya Ishihashi for the murder of Briton Lindsay Hawker, whose body was found buried in a bathtub full of sand on her killer's balcony in 2007.

Under Japanese law, when a defendant or witness does not speak Japanese, the court is required to hire an interpreter proficient in the language used by the parties involved.  In this case, an interpreter was hired for the benefit of the Hawker family, not just to translate their testimony but to translate the entire proceedings.


When Hawker's mother Julia was questioned about the impact of her daughter's death on the family, she said she had been unable to take a bath for two years; the court interpreter translated the phrase as "I cannot take back the two years."  Later, a prosecutor asked how coverage of the case has influenced British perceptions of Japan.  She testified that many now feel "Japan was a less safe place to come," which was translated as "Japan was the most unsafe place to come."

Because the translator was not being officially monitored most of her mistakes were not corrected, except when Motoyama Naoki, a professor emeritus of Chiba University who testified for the defense,  asked the court if he could make a correction in the translation: "I'm not a specialist of fertilizer as the interpreter said. I specialize in pesticides."

A request had been made to the court to appoint two interpreters, which is now becoming the norm in lay judge trials when defendants are non-Japanese, but only one was appointed.  There is no professional title or qualification for Japanese court interpreters, and their skills vary widely.  According to Japanese research, errors such as differences in nuance can influence the decisions of lay judges, resulting in sentencing differences of up to two to three years.