Takumi Shibano

Who was Takumi Shibano?

Takumi Shibano was a Japanese science-fiction translator and author. He was a major figure in fandom in Japan and contributed to establishing the Japanese science fiction genre.

A native of Kanazawa, Ishikawa, in 1957 Takumi started Japan's first successful science fiction fanzine Uchūjin, "Cosmic Dust," initially published monthly; many contributors to the fanzine later became pro, including Shin'ichi Hoshi, Sakyo Komatsu, Ryu Mitsuse and Yasutaka Tsutsui, and formed the first generation of modern Japanese science fiction authors. Shibano was the chair of Japan's first science fiction convention in 1962, as well as the second, fourth and sixth. He worked on the formation of the Federation of SF Fan Groups of Japan, founded in 1965, and served as its chair from 1966 through 1970.

After leaving his job as a high-school mathematics teacher in 1977, he became a full-time writer and translator. Under the pen-name Rei Kozumi, a play on "cosmic ray," he translated as many as sixty science fiction novels from English into Japanese, including E. E. Smith's Lensman series and Larry Niven's Known Space series.