January 7, 2026

Greetings in the New Year: SWET 2026 Album

The Horse greets the New Year sunrise, 2026. (Artwork by Stuart Ayre.)

Nanten berries brighten a weatherbeaten wall in Nagahama, Shiga prefecture (Lynne Riggs)

2026年の新年、吉兆の月と金星。 Good omen for the New Year 2026, the Moon and Venus. From our balcony (Amadio Arboleda)

Fresh prayer tablets in the Year of the Horse at Kotai Jingu, Fujisawa, Kanagawa Prefecture (Marian Kinoshita)

So many things to pray for this year? A long hatsumode line at Kotai Jingu, Fujisawa, Kanagawa Prefecture (Marian Kinoshita).

The first sunset of 2026, Suwa Shrine, Fujisawa, Kanagawa Prefecture (Marian Kinoshita).

Early January morning in Karangahake, New Zealand (Jillian Yorke)

Cumulus clouds at New Year’s, kauri tree, and wildflowers, New Zealand (Jillian Yorke)

As has become my annual tradition (thanks to the SWET bulletin!) I rose to witness the sunrise on New Years Day here in California at Lake Chabot, only to be met with overcast clouds and then rain. (Pamela Pasti)

Not a single ray of light or a blush of color appeared during my long vigil. (Pamela Pasti)

In desperation, I posed my auspiciously colored umbrella in the landscape. (Pamela Pasti)

I tried not to take the gloom as a portent of the year to come (2025 having been enough of a trial) and took solace in the sight of a peace pole from the movement started by Masahisa Goi (Pamela Pasti)

. . . and a Western bluebird (the bluebird of happiness?). Here's wishing all SWETers peace and goodwill in the new year. (Pamela Pasti)

For the wordsmith, the experience of past years steadily accumulates, resonating and enriching our craft. Its weight builds momentum as we tackle new challenges and carry on with tedious tasks, caring about clarity, attending to accuracy, and finessing nuance. 
     As we strive to keep ourselves on an even keel in times of turbulent technological change, the companionship of colleagues and the lore of our professions encourage and sustain us. For each of us, in our own niche, the answers vary and the judgment calls are shaped by different contexts, but we draw confidence from like and contrasting endeavors.
   We look forward to the meetings of minds, the stories and the sharing to be found in the community of writers, editors, translators, and their colleagues in the year ahead.