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.

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

April 3, 2016
Interview: Suzanne Kamata
On Writing, and Promoting, Diverse BooksSuzanne Kamata has become a respected author for teens and adults, probing issues of physical ableness and cultural identity. An experienced anthologist, she has also edited short fiction about Japan, as well as nonfiction about multicultural motherhood and raising children with special needs. She lives in a farming community in Shikoku. In this interview for... more

October 2, 2015
Interview: Kathy Morikawa
Kathleen Morikawa, aka Wm. (Wilhelmina) Penn, is the author of The Casebook of Irving and Innocence: The Complete Trilogy. Originally published as three separate ebooks—Thursdays in Yokohama, Fridays in Kamakura, and Saturdays in Sapporo —the complete trilogy was released in paperback and ebook form on Amazon this spring. The ebook version also will be available from Nook, iTunes,... more

July 19, 2015
Nancy Singleton Hachisu on TV!
The author of Japanese Farm Food, SWET member, and long-time resident of Saitama prefecture, Hachisu has begun appearing in segments of the Fuji TV program Tokoro-san no Nippon no Deban (Rediscover Japan). Her segment appears next on Tues. July 21, 7:00–9:00 p.m. Hachisu cooked for SWET’s 2013 New Year’s Party and spoke about her first... more

June 30, 2015
Phyllis Birnbaum: Another gripping biography
Novelist, biographer, journalist, editor and translator Phyllis Birnbaum is based in Watertown, Massachusetts. Her publications include Modern Girls, Shining Stars, the Skies of Tokyo: Five Japanese Women and a biography, Glory in a Line: A Life of Foujita—the Artist Caught Between East and West. She recently edited the English translation of Clouds Above the Hill: A Historical Novel of the Russo-Japanese War. An article on the... more

May 1, 2015
Interview: Alan Gleason
Alan Gleason and Bilingual Book Translation
The Japan Culture Book. Written by Miura Fumiko; translated by Alan Gleason. The Japan Times, 2015. ISBN 978-4-7890-1580-6.
Alan tells us:
In addition to doing freelance translation projects like this book, I work as a writer, editor and translator (the archetypal SWET member, eh!) for the webzine Artscape Japan and the Books from Japan website. When... 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