Articles

Rebecca Otowa on Writing at Home in Japan

by Avery Udagawa

What is it like to be a foreign-born wife, daughter-in-law, and mother in a 350-year-old Japanese farmhouse? To undergo years of traditional training before becoming the chatelaine?

And what is it like to write and illustrate a book about this experience? To have a review and one’s wedding photo published in the New York Times?

Rebecca Otowa titled... more

For the Sake of a Book

by George Bourdaniotis and Richard Sadowsky

On September 10, 2006, Philip Harper, then chief sake brewer at Daimon Shuzō (aka Sakahan) in Katano, east Osaka, explained the intricacies of sake brewing and talked about his new book, The Book of Sake (Kodansha International, 2006) to SWET Kansai members. Color photos of the brewery tour are... more

Editorial Addendum

by Kim Schuefftan

SWET asked Kim Schuefftan, editor at Kodansha International from 1966 to 1989, subsequently working as a freelance editor from his base in the countryside north of Tokyo, to comment on his experience as editor working with Amy Katoh on Otafuku: The Joy of Japan. In November 1999, Schuefftan spoke to SWET, and a report of his talk may... more

Otafuku Encounters

by Damon Shulenberger

Author of Otafuku: Joy of Japan (Tuttle, June 2005), Amy Katoh is known for her shop Blue & White, a fixture of Tokyo’s Azabu Juban area for more than 30 years, and three previous books. SWET pried into the profession and persona of one of Japan’' greatest champions of traditional crafts and culture.

Once you... more