The SWET Newsletter’s “How We Got Here” section featured Michael Hoffman’s “Notes from a Garret” in Number 106. The article has been republished on the SWET Web site.

“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 he get there?”

Addendum, 2007: In this 2004 article, Michael Hoffman revealed that his “computer-phobia” hadn’t helped his garret-based writing career as of 2004. Suggesting that he had “that more or less under control,” he may not have dreamed of having his own blog within three years. His latest book is Nectar Fragments AuthorHouse, 2006).