Swet Columns

Kyoto Journal Inspired

by Damon Shulenberger

The Kyoto Journal has always been a source of admiration and inspiration to editors, translators, and writers connected with Japan. In 2005, founding editor John Einarsen and associate editor Stewart Wachs spoke to a large SWET audience about their different perspectives on the journal’s making and showed a lively collection of slides of KJ covers and... more

SWET Newsletter, Number 109

In this issue:

How We Got Here: the Serendipitous Translator, by Alan Gleason On Staying Published: Judith Clancy, by Kay Vreeland SWET on Saturdays Reports J-SPOT: Redressing the Translation Imbalance (David Thayne) Editing in Japan (Phil Ouellet, Lynne E. Riggs, Ginny Tapley) SWET Kansai Narrative Script Translation: Peter Fincke (David Eunice) Threads on SWET-L: Getting the Little Stuff, by Torkil... more

On Staying Published

by Kay Vreeland

Publishing a guidebook to Kyoto is a daunting undertaking, so seeing it on bookshelves eight years after publication is gratifying. What is involved in staying in print and in maintaining a relationship with a publisher that is taken over by other presses along the way? Judith Clancy talks with SWET about the process and the rewards of remaining... more

SWET Newsletter, Number 108

In this issue:

How We Got Here: Children’s Book Artist, by John Shelley Transmitting Japan: The TES-Net Initiative, by Noda Makito and Lynne E. Riggs Events Literature for Young People (SCBWI Tokyo and Yoshida Yurika) Of Mouse and Mice (New Arthur Binard Translation) Childhood in Books (David Almond) Wordsmiths Unite! (SWET Open Forum) Threads on SWET-L: Linguistic Nitty-Gritty, by Torkil Christensen Book Review: Botchan: A Modern Classic, by William... more

SWET Newsletter, Number 107

In this issue:

Readable Romanization: Kwannon or Kannon?, by William Wetherall Between the Lines: Translating the Exotic, by Sara Kitaoji Events: PR Careers in Japan (Richard Berger and Andrew Giles) SWET Book Fair 2004 Challenging the Abyss (Chieko Mulhern and Ann Sherif) SWET Kansai Bōnenkai Twenty-Fifth Year Launch (New Year’s Party) Threads on SWET-L: Romaji, Memes, and Time, by Torkil Christensen Book Review: Observing Japan from Within, by Susan Schmidt ... more

Notes from a Garret

by Michael Hoffman

You don’t have to pay half your salary in rent or brave commuter crowds every day to pursue a successful writing or translating career in Japan. From his “garret” looking out on the waters of Ishikari Bay in Hokkaido,  Michael Hoffman contributes articles regularly to two of Japan’s English-language dailies, translates, and, most recently, writes fiction. How did... more