SWET Spotlight

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

Suzanne 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