Character and place names derived from common English usage tend to be rendered into Japanese, while those invented by Tolkien or difficult to translate are often transliterated directly into katakana spellings. Runes on Thrór's map are left in English, but absent altogether from the title page. Terms used here carry over into the Japanese edition of The Lord of the Rings, translated by Teiji Seta and Akiko Tanaka. (Wikipedia)

Reviewed in Mythlore Vol. 1 no. 3 by Robert Ellwood.

Source: The Annotated Hobbit (Revised and expanded edition, 2002) - Used with permission