Take the opportunity to indulge in relaxing summer pleasures that only Tokyo’s fine landscape gardens can provide and then join fellow wordsmiths for an evening of collegial cheer and good food in the spacious Ryotei pavilion overlooking the garden’s beautiful pond.

Further details to be posted here.

Writing about Japan raises real challenges. How do you present what’s different without exoticising? How much should you explain? Can you translate quotes accurately, retaining the original tone, while keeping your article readable? How much Japanese can you use? And is it possible to convey your sense of wonder without making a total fool of yourself?

Journalist Alice Gordenker will address these and other issues while providing a behind-the-scenes account of how she crafts her popular “So, What the Heck Is That?” column for the Japan Times. In this monthly column, now in its fifth year, Gordenker has achieved a balance of humor and respect in meticulously researched yet decidedly off-beat reports on everything from traditional culture to industrial safety. She’ll also touch on her writing for television in Japan.

6:00–7:00 p.m. will be time to have a bite, if desired, and visit/network; the talk begins at 7:00.

RSVP required by July 15th to SWET Kansai

Continuing from the talk at Doshisha Women’s University with Beth Cary, SWET and other interested persons are invited to gather for networking, good food and drink, at Al Sole restaurant. (Map)

Talk will be in Japanese with English references.

Interpreter and translator Beth Cary, who was born and reared in Kyoto and now lives and works in the San Francisco Bay area, will talk about her background and how she got into translating, share anecdotes from her long career, and discuss some of the challenges and highlights of recent translation projects including “In Iris Fields: Remembrances and Poetry by Abbess Kasanoin Jikun” (Tankosha, 2009) and “Starting Point: 1979–1996” by Miyazaki Hayao (Viz Media, 2009). She will also report on a current project with Pacific Basin Institute to prepare the forthcoming English translation of “Yokoito no nai Nihon” (Simul Press, 1976), by her father Otis Cary (1921-2006).

The talk will be followed by coffee and light refreshments.

Workshop will be limited to 15 participants (first come, first served). Registration required: Send name, address, telephone number to SWET Events by May 10.

Contrary to popular belief, proofreading is not spell-checking. Sure, proofreaders do correct spelling, but they also do much, much more, from checking layout and word breaks to ensuring text consistency—the little details that may seem quibbling, but together tell readers that a piece of published material has been prepared with sincerity and professionalism. The craft requires technical knowledge as well as sensitivity to the needs of each text and the ability to work closely with writers, editors, and designers. The skills involved are useful to anyone concerned with producing text that is attractive and error-free.

In this workshop, Katherine (Roo) Heins, freelance proofreader for Kodansha International and the magazine Kateigaho International Edition, among other publications, will share her expertise with those interested in expanding or refreshing their skills. Discussion and hands-on exercises will acquaint participants with basic procedures and will invite them to think about issues such as the differences between proofreading and copyediting, the balance between consistency and readability, and considerations particular to proofreading English-language materials in Japan. All are welcome: aspiring proofreaders who want to learn the ins and outs of the job, writers and translators needing tips on what to do when their manuscripts reach the proof stage, and people whose work often puts them in the way of proofreading tasks and who want to learn how to accomplish them efficiently and effectively.

Please contact SWET for a map to the venue or for further information.

Published in A4 format from 1980 to 1998, and in a new A5 format since 1998, the SWET Newsletter has undergone various design and editorial changes in the course of its 30-year history and nearly 125 issues. Since No. 104, it has been more like a journal than a newsletter, with only a few articles, of substantial length, in each issue.

Now: how about something yet different again?

With the start of SWET’s fourth decade, the current editorial team calls on SWET members to help design and launch a new incarnation of the group¹s main publication. What should its purpose be? What format should it take? How will it gather content? What is the role and niche of such a publication? Who will produce it?

SWET members have always published a newsletter because they love the writing, editing, proofreading, compiling, designing, layout, and other tasks that go into producing a publication that suits SWET. It has been a way of accumulating information about our cross-professional endeavors and interests that stands the test of time. But what really suits SWET in 2010?

All interested SWET members are invited to get into the discussion and brainstorming as we work toward a transition later this year from the current publication. What should it look like? Sophisticated? Simple? Colorful? Monotone? SWET invites anyone who would like to shape the SWET NL, help make it happen, or just kibitz, to join in this gathering. Discussion will be led by members of the current Newsletter Editorial Team.

With the decision to increase SWET membership dues to JPY6,000/year, the unpredictability of currency exchange rates, and our inability to quote prices in yen on Kagi, SWET will no longer quote membership dues in non-yen currencies and will drop the Kagi payment option. Other payment options (e.g., bank transfer, PayPal, and in-person cash) will, of course, be retained, and SWET will endeavor to accommodate people who find themselves without an acceptable payment option; but we will discontinue Kagi use.

Diane Durston lived in Kyoto for 18 years and is best-known internationally as the author of Old Kyoto, a book the New York Times has referred to as “a Japan travel classic.” She is also the author of The Living Traditions of Old Kyoto, and Kyoto: Seven Paths to the Heart of the City, and Wabi Sabi: The Art of Everyday Life. Her essays and articles appear in Japan: The Cycle of Life, in Japan Craft Sourcebook, the Encyclopedia of Japan, and in magazines and newspapers in the US and Japan.

From life in a farmhouse outside of Kyoto, her return to the US in 1996 led her to the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, and finally to a hillside pavilion in Portland, Oregon, where she interprets Japanese culture to 200,000 visitors per year through her work as Curator of Culture and Art at the Portland Japanese Garden, considered the finest Japanese garden in the world outside Japan. Durston curates four exhibitions of work by Japanese and American artists per year at the Garden and oversees a broad range of lecture series, cultural festivals, and programs, from her office in the Garden Pavilion.

For more information, see her profile at:
http://www.japanesegarden.com/profiles/diane-durston

Speaker: Kit Nagamura
Date: October 20, 2009 (Tuesday)
Time: 7:00-9:00 p.m.
Fee: SWET members 2,000 yen; non-members 3,000 yen
Reservations required (seating limited, so reserve early!)
or Fax 03-3430-1740.
Place: International House of Japan, Seminar Room 404
5-11-16 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-0032

Sharing techniques, tips, and tales of life on the little roads, writer and Japan Times columnist Kit Nagamura tells how and why her recent series came about—and offers hints on pitching writing that resonates with your passion.

The author of an essay series, award-winning short fiction, five language books, and two newspaper columns, Nagamura is a long-time Japan resident who
also serves as paperback editor at Kodansha.

Her bilingual book The Ultimate Japanese Phrasebook is soon to be published by Kodansha International.

There will be a small participation fee to cover room, flowers, refreshments, and other miscellaneous expenses.

A memorial gathering will be held in honor of Jiho Sargent, who died in Eugene, Oregon, on 17 June 2009. Jiho, technical writer and editor, proofreader, and programming expert, was a SWET stalwart for more than two decades. She served as priest at Taisoji near Sugamo station and organized many SWET book fairs on the Taisoji grounds. A brief Buddhist service will be held, followed by a memorial gathering where friends will be able to share their memories of Jiho. Beverly Goodrich, Jiho’s daughter, will be present. For further information, please contact us.