Publishers
Tokyo Established 2004About us
H2H Publishers was started in 2004 by Hans Brinckmann to publish his own works of fiction, poetry and non-fiction in English, Dutch and Japanese, and to promote and coordinate publication of his writings by other publishers and media. His partner and translator is Hiromi Mizoguchi, mainly for Japan-related publications.
For information on his books, click here
Hans Brinckmann (Writer): Born in 1932 in The Hague and growing up during the German occupation of Holland, Hans had to suppress his early hope to become a writer in order to make a living. He joined a Dutch international bank after high school, and in 1950 was assigned to Japan, where he lived for the next 24 years. After reaching the position of area executive, he left banking and retired to Buckinghamshire in England in 1974, to write and to continue his Japanese studies. He returned to banking two years later. He worked in Curaçao, Amsterdam and New York, where for a time he chaired the Institute of Foreign Bankers and a foundation active in Dutch-American cultural exchange.
In 1986 Queen Beatrix made him an Officer in the Order of Orange-Nassau for 'cultural and professional achievements' notably in Japan and the US. In 1988, aged 56, he quit banking for good and contributed intermittently to the Op-Ed pages of Dutch newspapers, often on Japan-related topics.
Since 2003 Hans once again makes his home in Japan, the first ten years in Tokyo, and since 2013 in Fukuoka. In 2008, he held an exhibition in the Fuji Photo Square in Tokyo of photos taken by him and his friend IJsbrand Rogge in Japan between 1951 and 1974. The one-month exhibition attracted close to 50,000 visitors. Now the entire photo collection is stored under the name "Brinckmann and Rogge Photo Library" at the National Museum of Japanese History (called "Rekihaku" for short in Japanese) in Sakura, Chiba prefecture. He became a permanent resident in Japan in 2019.
He has published fiction, non-fiction and poetry, including Showa Japan (Tuttle) and The Call of Japan (Renaissance books) whose Japanese translation by Hiromi Mizoguchi, entitled Watashi to Nihon no Nanaju-nen (Nishida Shoten), won First Prize in the 26th Japan Self-Publishing Culture Awards in the category "Best Essay Writing" in 2023.
Hiromi Mizoguchi (Translator): Born in Tokyo, Hiromi obtained an MA from the Graduate School of Social and Cultural Studies, Kyushu University. She worked for the Foreign Commercial Service at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo from 1990 to 1994. She met Hans Brinckmann through the Japan Society in London while living there from 1999 to 2001. She has been working with Hans as his translator of his works of fiction, non-fiction, poetry and essays since 2003. Her translation works include Aru Oranda-jin no Showa Japan ron (Random House Kodansha) and Watashi to Nihon no Nanaju-nen (Nishida Shoten) which won First Prize in the 26th Japan Self-Publishing Culture Awards in the category "Best Essay Writing" in 2023.
She translated Hans’s serialized essays which appeared in the Japanese literary magazine, Atlas, from 2014 to 2024. Five of those essays were selected and published as a book entitled, Monkey dance yokocho no shonen (Nishida Shoten).
She also translates from English to Japanese and edits the Japanese pages of this website.