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 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 Hirai’s achievement with... 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
April 3, 2016
Interview: Suzanne Kamata
On Writing, and Promoting, Diverse Books 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, Kobo, and Tolino... 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 book. Her second book, Preserving... more
June 30, 2015