The Akutagawa Prize and globlization

Yang Yi won the Akutagawa Prize for her work, Toki Ga Nijimu Asa, which means literally, "A Morning When Time Blurs." I love that translated title – transcendent, imaginative and real; as simple as streak of color on a canvas and as bright.

I couldn't find an English translation for this work yet. There isn’t even a Wikipedia entry for this writer. That makes this particular article, Japanese literature turns page with foreign writers, in the Daily Yomiuri Online all the more interesting.

Daily Yomiuri writer, Yomiuri Shimbun, sees broader trends at work:

The number of foreigners living in Japan has already reached 2.15 million. About 100 entries written by people from Asia, the Middle East, Europe and other regions are sent annually to "Ryugakusei Bungakusho," the Japanese literary prize for international students studying in this country. It is undeniable that the base of foreigners writing Japanese-language literature has been expanding.

Writers from other countries are among winners of Britain's Booker Prize and France's Prix Goncourt, both leading European literary prizes. For example, Kazuo Ishiguro, who moved to Britain from Japan as a child, has won a Booker.
Such examples of the globalization of literary prize winners are helping to enrich literature in the English- and French-speaking worlds. Likewise, the sensibilities of foreign writers will stimulate Japanese-language literature and in turn give it new vitality.

Here is a link to YouTube news report and interview with Yang Yi that is translated.