In March 2024, an issue involving a star Japanese Major League Baseball player and his long-time language interpreter became known to the public and evoked much controversy even among those who had never thought much about language interpreters and thus may hold not a few misconceptions about the profession. As members of the Japan Association of Interpreting and Translation Studies, the panelists aimed to present a more informed analysis of and discussion on this issue, based on long-time professional experience and empirical studies conducted in this field. The panel consisted of five individual presentations centering on the following key words: the role of interpreters and translators, identity, skopos, power relations, and ethics. The discussion identified two major unresolved issues: a) translation strategy expected by the skopos of professional baseball, even at the risk of compromising the core of interpreters’ professional ethics, and b) the extensive and expansive role expected of baseball interpreters.
