User:Livmil/Heidi in Japan

The literary character Heidi (jap. ハイジハイジ, originally: ハイヂ, both pronounced Haiji) experienced an intensive literary adaptation and transformation in Japan. Detached from the original novel and the famous screen adaptation, Heidi in Japan stands for a popular cultural concept of simplicity, naivety and cuteness.

From its first translation on 15th February 1920, the novel Heidi lead to an intensive reception of the work of its creator Johanna Spyri. Japan influenced the worldwide image of Heidi with the 1974 cartoon series Heidi, Girl of the Alps (jap. アルプスの少女ハイジ, Arupusu no shōjo Haiji), which transferred typical elements of anime culture onto the character of Heidi.

As of now, there has been a total of at least 123 different editions of the Heidi books from 72 different translators, 21 mangas or manga series, 28 picture books and many cartoon adaptations. The Japanese depiction of Switzerland is shaped by stereotypes, which in the minds of many Japanese people are closely tied with the Heidi story: mountains, the Alps, unspoiled nature, free farming life.

Heidi stands among other western children's stories, which also have fanbases in Japan, the popularity of these can by all means be measured by their respective local fanbases: Little Women, The Secret Garden and in particular, Anne of Green Gables, which is the closest to Heidi thematically.

Translations
Heidi was a late arrival in the numerous translations of children's books in Japan, which was triggered by the opening of the country during the Meiji era. The translation came during the late phase of a period in which western books aimed at children were translated in Japan. Japan, which had only opened up a few decades before during the final years of the Edo period, was seen by its politicians as lagging behind the West in terms of education. It was thought Japanese children should learn from western children's books. Heidi's role as one of the most translated books was in no way clear from the start, and the book still belongs to the best-selling foreign literature in Japan. While other classics were translated at this time, such as The Wolf and the Seven Young Goats in 1880, Gulliver's Travels in 1896 and Little Lord Fauntleroy in 1897, Heidi still had to wait several more decades for translation.

The first Heidi book, translated by Nogami Yaeko, appeared in 1920 in a series of worldwide classics of children's literature. She did not translate from the German original text, but from an American English version. In total, Nogami Yaeko came up with 460 pages in an 18 x 11cm format. The few illustrations are not signed and likely come from an older European edition.

While the first translation was still a direct translation of the title in Katakana (ハイヂ, Haiji), the second translation renamed the characters in Japanese. Heidi became Kaede (Maple), the book was called Kaede monogatari (The Story of Maple). The volume, published by Fukuin Shokan, appeared in 1925 in the Shimane Prefecture and followed a trend where many European characters were given Japanese names, in order to make the books more understandable and accessible for their young audience. Like the first translation this followed an English text; in this case it was Helen B. Dole's translation of Heidi. This edition contained no illustrations.

In 1934 came a new paperback edition of Nogami's translation, which also did away with all illustrations. It was published by the Tokyo-based publisher Iwanami Shoten and at least until 2004, it was one of the most successful editions with 200,000 copies sold in 30 editions. A large amount of these editions were published decades after the first edition.

During the 1950s, Heidi became really successful in Japan. Iwanami Shoten, the publishers of the book in 1934, published a series of books from across the world, which were intended to help Japanese children overcome the experiences and trauma of theSecond World War. Within this series, a translation of Heidi from the original German appeared, translated by Michio Takeyama with illustrations by Leonard Weisgard. Of these, a total of 110,000 copies in 40 editions had been sold by 2004; just like the 1934 paperback, this edition is still available.

In the post-war period the translation approach towards Heidi began to change. The translators put the character of Heidi in the foreground less often, instead focussing above all on nature and the purity of the child's soul. In the 1950s, Nogami called the book Arupusu no Yama no Otome (アルプスの山の乙女, Eng. „A Young Girl of The Alpine Mountains“). In 1954, another translator, Yoshio Minami, decided upon Arupusu no Shōjo („An Alpine Girl; A Girl from the Alps“), with which both the Alps and thus the untouched landscape there are emphasised. Both Heidi/ Haiji and Arupusu no Shōjo are used today.

The literary importance of the material grew to such an extent that the late Nobel Prize winner for Literature, Kawabata Yasunari, also brought out a retelling of Heidi in 1959. The first worldwide edition of Johanna Spyris's complete works was also published in Japan in twelve volumes in 1962. During this time Japanese academics also began working on an independent Japanese adaptation of the material. In 1968, the literary scholar and translator, Kenji Takahashi compiled the first detailed list of all the existing Heidi translations at that point.

Following Anne of Green Gables, Heidi belonged to the typical Japanese literature for young girls in the 1960s and 1970s. In the years between 1920 and 1974, a total of 24 new translations, picture books and a manga novel were published. In addition to the complete works of Johanna Spryi, a comprehensive critical edition of Heidi was published. Individual editions like Sumiko Yagawa's 1975 translation, with illustrations by Paul Hey, reached a total of 32 editions and sold 128,000 copies by 2004. New translations regularly appear today and help make Heidi an integral text in school and public libraries.

Adaptations
The translations and adaptations essentially follow the original novel by Johanna Spryi. The medium used here makes it easy to add and subtract subplots. However, Japanese adaptors and translators are more careful with the base material than translators and interpreters from other countries. For example, none of the Japanese versions were as radically different as other versions, such as the highly modernised 2001 Swiss text or the two sequels written by French translator Charles Tritten.

In the Japanese versions, Heidi goes to stay with her grandfather, Alpöhi, in an alpine pasture following the shocking death of her parents. He has fallen out with local community and lives there with Peter the goatherd and Heidi in relative isolation. After some time, Heidi is surprisingly taken to Frankfurt am Main, where she gets to know her cousin Klara. After she has spent an unhappy time there, she is able to return to the Alps. Klara goes with her. Peter pushes Klara's wheelchair down the mountain out of jealousy, whereby Klara is forced by her circumstances to learn to walk again. In the end, the local community reconciles itself with Alpöhi.

Arupusu no shōjo Haiji – the anime
While the book Heidi was thought of primarily as literature for girls, the anime overcame the perceived gender of its audience and managed to enthuse boys too. The creator Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata gave the Swiss girl Heidi a sweet and lovable kawaii appeal, which was establishing itself in Japan at that time. Through a slow narrative pace and avoiding action elements, they created a new aesthetic in mainstream anime, which strongly promoted the kawaii aesthetic inside and outside of Japan.

Heidi was at a fork in the road for anime in the 1970s, when the often chaotic, creative scene of the 1960s became more professional. Several main strands established themselves in the development of anime: action series, Shōjo like Candy Candy, sport animes and finally the children's book adaptations of the World Masterpiece Theater, who established Heidi's success.

Before the production of the anime, Isao Takahata was already a reader of the Heidi books. Before the series was created, both of the creators, Isao Takahata and Hayao Miyazaki travelled for a month in Switzerland and the municipality of Maienfeld, in order to render the landscapes as realistically as possible and to give the series an authentic feeling. In contrast to the American film adaptation from 1937, which took place entirely in the Black Forest, Miyazaki and Takahata's version tried to faithfully recreate the Alps. With the exception of a few details, the final product is unusually faithful to the text for a TV adaptation.

In contrast to the later animes, the animators of Heidi still attached great importance to an internationally friendly animation style, which dissolved the boundaries of Heidi's story further and strengthened the tendencies towards a parable not dependent on time or place. They internationalised the story and also managed to bring Heidi to a new generation of children. Furthermore they brought Heidi to the Museum of Modern Art.

They managed to cover all of the main and subplots of the novel in the 52 episode series. Nevertheless they placed new emphasis on Heidi's love of animals and the role nature plays by introducing other animals like Joseph, the St. Bernard and Piep, the bird. They diffused the conflict with Peter, who is presented as less grumpy and more sympathetic than in the book. It is particularly noticeable that events have been changed in the anime so that Klara's wheelchair shatters in an accident, instead of the book version of events, where it is Peter who pushes her down the mountain out of jealousy. The biggest change of all is the complete omission of the Christian undertones of the story, which are apparent in the religiously charged motives of guilt, atonement and forgiveness in the book. The reason for this is that these would have been too incomprehensible to a Shinto and Buddhist audience.

Since its first broadcast, the series has been running regularly on Japanese TV and still has considerable ratings. Even in 2008, the yodel from the Japanese theme song was still a regular hit in Japanese karaoke bars. Although in a survey, cultural researcher Ryo Kohsaka found that 90% of those polled in Japan had got to know Heidi through the anime, it is not solely responsible for shaping the image of Heidi. In terms of content, the book and anime differ in how Klara's wheelchair is destroyed. When asked about this event, a third of Japanese people surveyed responded with the book version of events, a further seventh presented the story as told by the Swiss feature film of 1955 and the rest of the participants responded with the anime version. Comparing the result of this survey to the reception among Swiss and Germans shows the following: knowledge of the book events in Japan is far below the Swiss rate, but clearly above that of German respondents. Germans recount the anime far more often than Japanese respondents.

Books, Manga, Anime und Films – Further Adaptations
Heidi has inspired countless works and adaptations: partly based on the original version by Johanna Spryi and partly some removed or liberal new interpretations. In addition to at least 123 translations, 21 mangas or manga series, 28 picture books and two animes, Heidi has inspired hotels, private productions and countless photos and videos from Swiss holidays.

Television and Radio

 * DRS: Magic Heidi. Lichtgestalt, Nationalsymbol und berühmteste Schweizer Botschafterin aller Zeiten. [Magic Heidi: Shining Light, National Symbol and the Most Famous Swiss Ambassador of All Time] Documentary, originally broadcast on 19th December 1991
 * Stella Luncke and Josef Maria Schäfers: „Deine Welt sind die Berge …“ – Heidi, ein Star aus Japan ["Your World is in the Mountains..." - Heidi, a Star in Japan. Author feature for Südwestrundfunk 2008.