Swet Columns
May 11, 2021
EVENT REPORT: SWET Zoom Workshops Experiment 2020
By Richard Medhurst
Talking to other translators and wordsmiths at events and workshops inspires new discoveries and ways of thinking about what we do, as well as providing the chance to get to know people in the business. We used to do this in person until the pandemic made real-world meetings impossible, and led us to reconsider online spaces. One benefit of... more
June 27, 2019
EVENT REPORT: Brainstorming for SWET’s 40th Anniversary
On the evening of Wednesday, June 19, six SWET members gathered in Jinbōchō, Tokyo, for a brainstorming session about plans for celebrating SWET’s upcoming 40th anniversary. To start off with, we discussed the proposed date: SWET’s inaugural meeting was held on November 15, 1980, and in 2020, the 15th falls on Sunday. We agreed that mid-November 2020 sounded optimal,... more
May 5, 2019
EVENT REPORT: Press Trips and Language Tips for Travel Media
By Rob Goss
On March 20, 2019, twelve people, including five first-timers, attended the latest SWET Travel Writing Meetup in Tokyo at Book House Cafe, Jinbocho, for a presentation by photographer Phil Ono about the handling of style issues in place-name signage used around the country and a presentation by travel writer Rob Goss about press trips for travel writers and... more
December 2, 2018
SWET Kansai Event Report: Juliet Winters Carpenter—Reflections on the Translation of Ryōma!
By Susan E. Jones
In October, 17 SWET members and interested others eagerly gathered at Doshisha Women’s College of Liberal Arts in Kyoto to hear illustrious translator Juliet Winters Carpenter talk about her latest work, a joint translation project with two other translators of Ryōma! The Life of Sakamoto Ryōma: Japanese Swordsman and Visionary by historical novelist Shiba Ryōtarō. The Japanese... more
July 28, 2018
EVENT REPORT – SWET Travel Writing Meet-up
By Rob Goss
The new travel writing group within SWET is up and running. Seventeen people came together on July 19 for the first meeting on a hot and humid night in Tokyo, some traveling from as far as Niigata and Kobe to the Book House Cafe, Jinbocho, Tokyo. We had a mix of writers, photographers, translators, interpreter-guides, and two tourism ambassadors... more
July 4, 2018
SWET Kansai Event Report: Photography and Flash Fiction Workshop
By Rebecca Otowa
I had been dreaming of putting together John Einarsen’s evocative photography and a writing workshop for some months, and on June 9, it came true. It was held in central Kyoto and seven people attended.
In addition to being the founding editor of the respected Kyoto Journal, John has published several books of his photographs, including Kyoto:... more
