News

Robert Whiting: Anecdotes from Four Decades as a Writer

Date: March 17, 2014 (Monday) Time: 7:00-9:00 p.m. (socializing 6:00-7:00 p.m.) Fee: ¥1,000 for SWET members; 1,500 for non members Place: Wesley Center, Room 205

Robert Whiting, veteran author of "The Chrysanthemum and the Bat" (1977), "You Gotta Have Wa" (1989), "Tokyo Underworld" (1999), and "The Meaning of Ichiro" (2004), will be sitting down with SWET for an impromptu talk and discussion about his... more

Tokyo International Literary Festival 2014

The Tokyo International Literary Festival 2014 will run from February 28 (Fri.) to March 9 (Sun.) with many events of great interest. While last year the focus was mainly on Japanese and Western writers, this time authors from Europe and Asia will also be participating. Other plans include the celebration of the release of Monkey Business 4, as well as... more

February 2014 Issue of Artscape Now Out

The latest issue of this informative journal is now out and can be accessed at Artscape Japan.

In addition to this month's new articles, detailed below, Artscape Japan is happy to welcome a new contributor to their FOCUS section, Alice Gordenker.

FOCUS All Things Adorable: "Kawaii" Art at the Yamatane Museum, by Alice Gordenker

FOCUS Nihonga in a Gorgeous Setting: The Gyokudo Art Museum, by Michael Pronko

HERE/THERE When... more

Kyoto Journal Reviews Judith Clancy’s Machiya Restaurant Guide

The Kyoto Journal's Michael Lambe has just presented a restaurant guide by Judith Clancy, titled Kyoto Machiya Restaurant Guide: Affordable Dining in Traditional Townhouse Spaces. For the in-depth story of how the book came into being, see the three-part SWET interview with the author, publisher, and photographer here.

The book outlines the Machiya area's many fine dining establishments against the backdrop of the charm... more

International Thriller Japantown Receives Warm Welcome

When Barry Lancet launched the first in what he envisioned as a mystery/thriller series exploring the high culture and low underbelly of Japan, he had no idea what to expect. By the first week of publication, Japantown was scheduled for a fourth printing and had been optioned for a TV series by J. J. Abrams’ Bad Robot Productions of more

December 2013 Issue of Artscape Japan Now Out

Artscape Japan has just announced that their December 2013 issue is now out and can be accessed at http://www.dnp.co.jp/artscape/eng/.

This month's issue features these new articles:

FOCUS Your Portrait: A Tetsumi Kudo Retrospective, by Christopher Stephens

FOCUS

Revisiting Morimura, Rembrandt, and the Hara Museum, by Lucy Birmingham

HERE/THERE The Ishikawa: Not Your Standard-Issue Prefectural Museum, by Alan Gleason

The PICKS section offers a monthly selection of 20 short translated reviews, by... more