Swet Columns
June 29, 2026
What’s in a Page?
by Lynne E. Riggs
FAQ corner Setting Your Units of Charge
What’s in a page? 250 English words, 350 words, 200 words, 25 lines, 2000 characters, 400 characters, 200 characters, 1200 characters . . .
All of these, and others, are commonly encountered “standard” pages, by one measure or other. Translators, editors, proofreaders, rewriters, book designers, typists/keyboarders—wordsmiths of all kinds—consort with several of these... more
November 7, 2024
The History of SWET
The late 1970s were years of growth and ferment in English-language book and periodical publishing in Japan. Book publishers Charles E. Tuttle, Inc., John Weatherhill, Kodansha International, and the University of Tokyo Press released dozens of new volumes in English annually. Japan Echo, the Japan Interpreter, and Japan Quarterly published high-quality Japanese journalism and writing in English translation. Four daily... more
May 31, 2014
SWET Style Sheet
SWET Style Sheet and Submission Guidelines These guidelines are intended for articles published in SWET online and print publications (revised May 2025).
MATTERS OF STYLE In general, follow the Chicago Manual of Style, 18th edition (CMS18). For spelling and hyphenation, follow Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 11th edition or Webster’s... more
August 5, 2026
EVENT REPORT: Book Editing and the Tuttle Style of Publishing
On June 17, 2026, Tuttle Publishing editor Cathy Layne joined a group of fifteen SWET members and others gathered at the Book House Café in Jinbochō to share her story of the last thirty years. Layne first came to Japan in 1996 as a teacher on an exchange from London, where she was a high school teacher. She continued to... more
March 1, 2026
SWET 2025 Member Survey
Report by Monique Bae
Just in time for the arrival of spring and its aroma of new beginnings is the SWET 2025 Member Survey Report. The number of respondents was 79, exactly the same number for the previous survey that was conducted in 2018. Thank you to those who took the time to provide feedback. What follows are highlights of the data... more
July 2, 2025
Translator Tuesdays Reports
These quick reports (beginning with August 2024) of the hour-long online meetups held starting in March 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. See Upcoming Events on the SWET website top page for the topics of upcoming meetups.
July 7
We... more