Yei Theodora Ozaki

Born in London in December 1870, Yei Theodora Ozaki was the daughter of a Japanese father, Yukio Ozaki, and a European mother. She spent parts of her childhood in both Europe and Japan, an experience that gave her a rare ability to move between cultures and languages.

Ozaki is remembered above all for collecting and translating Japanese stories for English readers. Her best-known book, Japanese Fairy Tales (1908), introduced many traditional tales to a wide audience and remained popular long after its first publication.

What makes her work stand out is its welcoming tone. Rather than producing stiff, scholarly translations, she retold stories in a way that felt natural and engaging, helping readers outside Japan discover the charm, humor, and imagination of these classic tales.