Panel Discussion with Greg Goodmacher, Alice Gordenker, and Rob Goss

Date: April 22, 2016
Time: 7:00-9:00 p.m.

Fee: Free of charge; please bring drinks and snacks to share

Place: Sumida Riverside Tower, 2F Meeting Room, Shinkawa 1-28-7, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-003. About 10 minutes walk from Kayabacho (Hibiya and Tozai Line) or Hatchobori (Hibiya Line or JR Keiyo Line) subway stations. Buses from Tokyo station, Nihonbashi, etc. Less than 1,000 yen by taxi. [Map]

With visitors to Japan swelling to almost 20 million in 2015, there's more demand than ever for both general and specialized travel advice in English and other languages. How can writers, editors, and translators living in Japan help serve that market? What are the opportunities and challenges in traditional providers of travel information, such as guidebooks, magazines, and newspapers, as well as newer media, including blogs, e-books and social media? In this special travel-focused SWET event, join Greg Goodmacher, Alice Gordenker, and Rob Goss to discuss these questions and others related to writing, editing and translation for travel and tourism.

Please bring tourism-related magazines, books, or other materials to add to a display for shared interest.

Profiles of the Speakers
Greg Goodmacher writes textbooks and travel articles and teaches at a college in Niigata prefecture. His goals are to be published in a wider variety of international magazines and to gradually become a full-time writer, Goodmacher has written for magazines on the topics of tea, snowshoeing, traveling, animal welfare, and Japanese onsens. When not working or writing, he is probably soaking in a hot spring. Check out his blog: http://hotspringaddict.blogspot.jp/

Alice Gordenker has been explaining Japan in English for over 16 years through newspapers, magazines, television, a blog and social media. A long-time columnist for The Japan Times, Gordenker is probably best known for her popular “What the Heck is That?” column, which ran from 2005 to 2015, answering readers’ questions on Japan with meticulously researched yet decidedly off-beat reports on everything from traditional talismans to toilets. She has worked for NHK for many years, writing subtitles and scripts for its programs on language, culture, and travel. Recently, Gordenker has been working to make Tokyo museums more accessible to foreign visitors through better English-language captioning as well as guided tours. In 2015 she began working with Kanagawa Prefecture to develop new tourism products, personally designing and leading a series of tours in English to lesser known but eminently worthwhile destinations. For more info: https://alicegordenker.wordpress.com/

Rob Goss has written a number of books on Japan with Tuttle Publishing, including the North American Travel Journalists Association (NATJA) Gold Award-winning Travel Pack Japan (2013), NATJA Silver Award-winning Tokyo: Capital of Cool (2015) and the upcoming Travel Pack Kyoto & Nara (2016) andJapan Traveler’s Companion (2016). He has also contributed to and/or updated more than a dozen guidebooks for Rough Guides, Fodor’s, Insight Guides, Dorling Kindersley and National Geographic, as well as writing about Japan for nearly 100 magazines and online publications around the world, from National Geographic Traveler and Time to the in-flight magazines of Continental, Delta, US Airways, and others. For more info: www.tokyofreelance.com.