As a Japanese-to-English translator of contemporary theater texts, Aya has worked with numerous living Japanese playwrights. Many of their translations have been published and produced in the U.S. and U.K. Aya has been invited to present their practice as an artist and translator at the 2019 Asia Playwrights Meeting and UCLA Center for Japanese Studies in 2023. They were a translator for SPOTLIGHT: JAPAN at the Prelude Festival 2007 and initiated and realized the Japan Playwrights Project 2018, both at at CUNY’s Segal Center. They currently serve on the selection panel for the Japan Playwrights Association’s annual publication of contemporary Japanese plays in English translation, Engeki: Japanese Theatre in the New Millennium, now in it’s tenth volume.

They especially seek out collaborations with writers who are experimenting with form and voicing underrepresented perspectives in the Japanese cultural landscape. Below are a few of the Japanese playwrights whose works they have translated.

Below are links to Aya’s translations that are available to the general public for purchase or loan from the library.

Enjoy by Toshiki Okada

The Sonic Life of a Giant Tortoise by Toshiki Okada

Hot Pepper, Air Conditioner and the Farewell Speech by Toshiki Okada

As part of The Methuen Drama Anthology of Modern Asian Plays

Ground and Floor by Toshiki Okada

Published with Hot Pepper, Air Conditioner, and The Farewell Speech and The Sonic Life of a Giant Tortoise as part of Okada Toshiki & Japanese Theatre

The Bacchae – Holstein Milk Cows by Satoko Ichihara

As part of The Methuen Drama Book of Contemporary Japanese Plays

ENGEKI: Japanese Theatre in the New Millennium

10 volumes of this anthology series are available at the New York Public Library of the Performing Arts