SWET Spotlight
SWET’s far-flung community pulses with activity. Members are carving a niche, polishing skills, sharing expertise, and building toward aspirations. What are they doing? Why do they do it? What do they think about it? What can we learn from them? SWET interviews members with an achievement to celebrate, a significant occasion to mark, or something special to share. Let us know what you are doing. To arrange an interview, Contact Us. The SWET Blogroll features personal blogs of members in the Member Spotlight page sidebar.
November 2, 2020
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... more
July 2, 2020
Inclusive Language and Translations
From the SWET Newsletter Archive/Editors’ Corner
Many journalists and writers are working hard these days to free their prose of sexist bias. When they don’t, editors often must help them out. A translator, who must take into account the characteristics of two languages at once in the routine course of her work, has special problems in this regard.
The... more
February 6, 2019
Jared Lubarsky: What Puts the Spring in My Step
Author of the recently published Counter-Kabuki: Sixty-Seven Playlets on the Silly Side of Life in Japan, Jared Lubarsky has been a full-time resident of Barcelona, Spain, since 2005. He was raised in Massachusetts and did his undergraduate and graduate studies in Pennsylvania, where he also had his first teaching job, at Haverford College. He arrived in Tokyo in 1976 to... more
March 5, 2018
Simon Rowe: An Independent Author’s Journey
Simon Rowe is an independent writer who currently resides in the city of Himeji, situated in western Honshu and known for its splendidly preserved Edo-period castle. After 20 years of roving the world as a travel writer, he has turned to penning short fiction and screenplays. He has recently self-published a collection of short stories, Good Night Papa:... more
November 30, 2017
Michihiro Hirai’s Technical and Business English Expertise Marathon
Long-time SWET member Michihiro Hirai works with publishers and language-related organizations as a translator, writer, teacher of technical and business English, and consultant. He is also a collector of English-language qualifications: he recently let us know that he had passed his goal of earning 50 of them and is eager for more. Taking this opportunity to celebrate... more
July 4, 2016
Hugh Ashton: Technical Writer and Man of Mystery
A core member of SWET for more than two decades and resident of Japan for 28 years, Hugh Ashton recently announced his decision to move back to England, whence he came in 1988. As a speaker and leader of workshops, writer of articles, and behind-the-scenes technician and wordsmith, Ashton played an important role in SWET’s early initiation into advanced information... more
SWET Member Blogroll
Books on Asia
Book reviews and more
Holly Thompson - Blog on writing, teaching, living and learning
Poetry and more
Rebecca Otowa's Blog
Assorted reveries
Greg Goodmacher - Onsen (Hot Spring) Addict in Japan
As the name suggests, about onsen in Japan
Tim Patrick - Japan Everyday
Articles about everyday life in Japan
Jennifer O'Donnell - J-En Translation
Japanese-English translation
Suzanne Kamata - Gaijin Mama
Lively posts on writing and publishing, mothering, the literary life, and getting an MFA
Paul Cipywnyk - Paul Cipywnyk's Blog
Photography from Vancouver, Canada
