News

Kyoto Journal Celebratory Print Issue “100 Views of Kyoto”

The Kyoto Journal production team has announced details of the one hundredth issue of KJ—a milestone they never foresaw reaching. Thanks to KJ for sharing this splendid news!

Managing editor Ken Rodgers reports: The issue is planned as a kaleidoscopic compendium in the tradition of the many “100 Views” woodblock series, presenting a diversity of perspectives on a specific theme. In this case, a fresh assemblage of views, voices, reminiscences, personal observations and descriptions (many written or adapted especially for KJ100), sketches, photographs, historical and... more

Swet Columns

Modern Colloquialisms Japanese-English

Nichibei kogo jiten, ketteiban/Modern Colloquialisms Japanese-English. Third Edition, 1,308 pages, Asahi Press, 2021. ISBN 978-4-255-01214-8 C0582.

Among the tools available to translators, writers, and students of English and Japanese of all sorts, Modern Colloquialisms (MC) has been a standard for more than 40 years. It was published in 1977 under the supervision of scholar and translator Edward G. Seidensticker (1921–2007) and prolific writer, interpreter, and English expert Matsumoto Michihiro (b. 1940). Their aspiration was to provide both Japanese... more

Articles

Writing from Japan: English-Language Newspaper Columnists in the 1980s and 1990s

As part of SWET’s 40th anniversary celebrations, we are chronicling the memories and experiences of some of the many columnists of that era. We have asked these writers to reflect on how they wrote and communicated back in the pre-digital days, a time when Japan boasted four English-language newspapers and plenty of magazines looking for English-language contributors. It was a golden age for Japan-based writers before the Internet and social media changed the way we live and work. This... more

SWET Spotlight

Manga Lettering and Translation

By Susan E. Jones

One of the fantastic aspects of SWET is its inclusivity. Not limited to just one part of the long process of publishing in English, it welcomes writers, translators, editors, and other wordsmiths who contribute in various ways to the finished product. The SWET Talk Shop on August 22, 2020 looked at the skilled craftspeople who are contributing to manga-production by giving the floor to three dedicated manga letterers: Sara Linsley, Brandon Bovia, and Phil Christie. Lettering appreciator... more

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.