Rebekah Harmon

Background

About Rebekah Harmon

I help some of the best-known institutions in Japan create accessible, natural English translations on art and cultural heritage. My work has been featured in exhibitions at some of Japan’s most prominent museums, including the Tokyo National Museum, the Kyoto National Museum, and the Museum of the Imperial Collections, Shozokan. Past and current clients also include major media companies, like NHK Promotions, the Mainichi Newspapers, and the Yomiuri Shimbun. Since 2023, I have been a copyeditor (working under the Center for Intercultural Communication, CIC) for the Japan Tourism Agency’s project promoting multilingual support for sightseeing destinations around Japan. I currently run an English-language YouTube channel called “Japanese Art History for Inquiring Minds” to promote a broader international understanding of Japanese culture, art, and history. Recent speaking credits include a talk in Japanese on preparing texts for translation at a conference sponsored by the Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties (Nabunken) and a workshop in English on creating museum style guides in Japan for the Society for Writer’s Editors and Translators (SWET). Selection of Recent Translations • National Treasures of Japan World Expo headline exhibition at the Osaka City Museum of Fine Arts (2025) • Treasures of Daikakuji: From Imperial Villa to Buddhist Temple Exhibition at the Tokyo National Museum (2025) • Inviting Fortune: Auspicious Symbols in Japanese Art The Museum of the Imperial Collections, Sannomaru Shozokan (2025) • Haniwa! Exhibition at the Tokyo National Museum (2024) • The Artistic Cosmos of Hon’ami Kōetsu Exhibition at the Tokyo National Museum (2024) • Ancient Kumamoto—History as Told by Written Records Exhibition at the Kumamoto Museum of Literature and History (2024) • Shinoda Toko Collection Exhibition at the Gifu Collection of Modern Arts (2024, edited by CIC) • Treasures and Deities of the Peak of Gold Exhibition at the Miho Museum (2023, object commentaries for three chapters, edited by CIC) • Tokyo National Museum: Its History and National Treasures 150th Anniversary Special Exhibition (2022)