Taylor Mignon, a poet, translator & amateur critic is a cofounder of Tokyo Poetry Journal, editing the “Japan and The Beats” book-length edition (v5) and the “Butoh and Poetry” issue (v6, with Jordan Smith). He translated surrealist poet Torii Shōzō (1932-1994), for the collected volume, Bearded Cones & Pleasure Blades.
Jeffrey Johnson did his doctoral work at UW Seattle and teaches comparative literature and translation at a few universities in Tokyo. He spent his 20s hiking canyons in Arizona, his 30s crawling through the gutters of Barcelona, and is now a long time resident of Tokyo and active in its poetry scene. He is the author of two books of criticism: Bakhtinian Theory in Japanese Studies (Mellen), and Haiku Poetics in 20th Century Avant-Garde Poetry (Lexington), and a founding editor of the Tokyo Poetry Journal