Christopher Belton

Christopher Belton (born 25 August 1955 in Hackney, London, UK) is a writer of both fiction and non-fiction, and a Japanese/English translator working from Yokohama, Japan.

Belton first moved to Japan in 1978 with his Japanese wife, and apart from four years in London between 1983 and 1987, he has lived in Japan ever since. Turning freelance in 1991, Belton has published more than 60 books as an author, more than 70 as a translator, and is well known in Japan for his contributions to literature, English learning and the publishing industry.

Biography Born and brought up in Hackney, North London, Belton attended Queensbridge Infants School, Gayhurst Junior School and Upton House Secondary School. Excelling at music, he won a scholarship to receive individual tuition from the Royal Academy of Music at the age of fourteen, and also played second trumpet for the London Schools Symphony Orchestra for a brief period in 1969. He spent two years with the chorus of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden as a juvenile, during which he appeared in the operas Peter Grimes, Tosca, Don Carlos, Don Giovanni, Falstaff, Norma and others, and was part of a three-week tour of West Berlin and Munich undertaken by the Royal Opera House in April 1970. He also appeared in Belasario, staged by the students of the Royal Academy of Music, at the Sadler's Wells Opera House in 1972.

Belton then turned his attention to modern music and played the guitar in several unsuccessful rock bands, occasionally moonlighting as a session musician, before becoming disillusioned with the music business in 1975 and moving from London to Dartmouth, Devon, with his wife, Michiyo, where they lived for the subsequent three years.

Belton and his family moved to Japan in 1978, where he taught English in Tokyo and its surrounding prefectures. They moved back to the UK in 1983, where he started working for the London office of JTB (Japan Travel Bureau.) He was transferred to the Tokyo office in 1987 and worked there until he resigned to become a freelance translator in 1991.

Despite his background in music, Belton stated in an interview with Ken Tamai (published in 決定版シャドーイング in 2004,) that he has been writing for most of his life, with his first book penned at the age of eight (a biography of the cricketer Colin Cowdry.) His first published work, Crime sans Frontieres, was released in the UK in 1997 and was nominated, although not long-listed, for the prestigious Booker Prize. This attracted the attention of several Japanese publishers, resulting in Belton writing and publishing more than sixty books over the course of the following years.

Published works

English language (author) Quotes from Literature (Ladder Series Level 5: collection of quotations from famous literature). Japan: IBC Publishing, December 2020. A State of Mind (collection of autobiographical essays). JPN: IBC Publishing Inc., 2013. Nowhere to Run (suspense novel). USA: Leisure Books (an imprint of Dorchester Publishing), 2004. Isolation (technothriller). USA: Leisure Books (an imprint of Dorchester Publishing), 2003. Sophisticated English Conversation for Adults (大人のための知識と教養の英会話) (Japanese language non-fiction). Japan: DHC, June 2014. Quotes from Literature (世界文学の名言) (English/Japanese language non-fiction). Japan: IBC Publishing, May 2014. What to Say in English at Times Like This (こんなとき英語ではこう言います) (Japanese language non-fiction). Japan: CosmoPier Publishing, February 2013. Sophisticated English Conversation for Non-Native Speakers (日本人のための教養ある英会話) (Japanese language non-fiction). Japan: DHC, June 2012. British English Listening (ゆっくりだから聞きとれる！イギリス英語のリスニング) (Chinese language non-fiction). Taiwan: Jong Wen Books, September 2007. Reading Your Way to English Comprehension (英語は多読が一番!) (Japanese language non-fiction). Japan: Chikuma Shobo, December 2008. Reading Harry Potter Vol. 6 in the Original English (「ハリー・ポッター」第6巻が英語で楽しく読める本) (Japanese language non-fiction). Japan: CosmoPier Publishing, October 2005. Reading Harry Potter Vol. 3 in the Original English (「ハリー・ポッター」第3巻が英語で楽しく読める本) (Japanese language non-fiction). Japan: CosmoPier Publishing, March 2004. "Bestseller wa Omoshiroi," regular column on reading specific novels (notably best-sellers) in the original English. Tacho-Tadoku Magazine (CosmoPier): October 2006 – August 2110. "Gateway to Hell," serialization of fantasy-horror novel. Tacho-Tadoku Magazine (CosmoPier): March 2009 – January 2010.

Miscellaneous Belton acts as a freelance proofreader/editor for the Japanese translations of overseas literature. He has been involved in the publication of approximately 70 translated works, including the works of Peter Carey, Arundhati Roy, Barbara Kingsolver, Amy Sohn, etc.

In addition to writing textbooks for use in universities, Belton has also contributed essays for use in the Crown Plus English Series (Level 2), a textbook for English study on the National Curriculum for junior high schools in Japan.

Personal life Belton is married to Michiyo (née Kato, b. 24 June 1951), with whom he has two sons: Shane (b. 25 May 1976) and Jamie (b. 4 February 1980). He currently lives in Yokohama, Japan.