A Community for Japan-Related Writing Professionals
Based in Tokyo, Japan, SWET comprises people engaged not only in the three professions of writing, editing, and translating, but also in teaching, research, rewriting, design and production, copywriting, and other areas related to the written word in Japan.
Japan Style Sheet
A cross-professional guide
The SWET Guide for Writers, Editors and Translators
News View all
Susan Schmidt Wins America-Japan Society’s Kentaro Kaneko Award
SWET is delighted to share the news published in the Japan Times that Susie Schmidt has received the Kentaro Kaneko Award, sponsored by the American-Japan Society for her "work to promote Japanese-language education in the United States as well as via exchange programs in higher education." Schmidt has been a director and secretary-general of the American Association of Teachers of Japanese for many years, “greatly influencing Japanese-language education and higher education exchanges between Japan and the U.S.... more
Swet Columns View all
Translator Tuesdays Reports
These quick reports of the hour-long online meetups held on the first Tuesday of each month are contributed by Daniel Morales, moderator, following the close of each session. The reports appear with the most recent at the top.
October 1, 2024
This was one of our best attended sessions to date. We had nine participants sharing various "spooky" stories of translations gone wrong. This includes everything from simple mistranslations of "false friends," misspellings in subtitles (fortunately spotted in the wild, not our own... more
Articles View all
If, for J-E Translators
If you can render prose in real English idiom While all about you Cling rigidly to translation word-for-word; If you can stand by natural wording Though clients claim they know better, But respect their sensibilities as far as conscience can; If you can grapple with obscurantism And articulate it in clear expository style; Or, being left with ambiguity, not perpetuate ambiguity, Or, given insider codes, not let cryptic phrases win the day. And yet not fear small expedients, Nor over-rate the laws of English logic.
If you can empathize—but not let passion... more
SWET Spotlight View all
Entering into the World I Created: Interview with Karen Hill Anton, author of “A Thousand Graces”
Karen Hill Anton is well known for her columns in the Japan Times, which she described in an article for SWET’s series on English-language newspaper columnists. Her memoir, The View From Breast Pocket Mountain, beloved by a wide readership, has earned three literary awards. She spoke to SWET about her memoir at length for a SWET Talk Shop in August 2021, available on YouTube, and again in October 2022 about the craft of memoir writing. Now... more