Born to a Japanese mother and Irish-American father in Zushi, Japan, Bonnie Elliott splits both heart and mind equally between the two cultures. Her love of Japanese literature and culture is purely via osmosis. She now lives in Brooklyn, N.Y., and has translated Natsuo Kirino’s forthcoming novel, Shinji Ishii’s “Once Upon a Swing,” sections of “Henry Darger’s Room,” and “Train Man.”