Jeffrey Johnson
Editor in Chief for volumes 13-18.
ToPoJo Co-founder, Jeffrey Johnson, is a professor in the English Department of Daito Bunka University where he teaches undergraduate and graduate literature and culture courses. He has written about comparative poetics, and participates in poetry events around Tokyo including reading his own poetry to musical accompaniment.
Author of Haiku Poetics in Twentieth Century Avant-Garde Poetry (Lexington 2011), Bakhtinian Theory in Japanese Studies (Mellen 2001) and translator of 「地形と気象」Landforms & Climates, by Misei Akegata, Keijiro Suga, Sayaka Osaki and Mizuho Ishida (Sayusha, 2016).
Zoria Petkoska K.
ToPoJo Editor,
lead editor of Volume 11: Tokyo City / Slice and Volume 15: Visual///Visionary Poetry
Zoria holds undergraduate and Master’s degrees in English Literature and Translation, with postgraduate research studies in Japanese visual poetry from TUFS. She is an award-winning translator, Editor-in-Chief of the literary journal [Ш], and a co-founder of the art collective The Odds (of Tokyo). She's also held a position as Commissioning Editor at Tokyo Weekender Magazine and Features Editor at The Japan Times.
Zoria is a visual poet (published the book of calligrammes Wordigami in 2015) and a cyberpunk poet (published DYSTOKYO in 2024, a book of cyberpunk poetry and glitch art with Simon Kalajdjiev). She also creates visual poetry exhibitions of her own, as well as curating art exhibitions. She's invented the Archeologia Poetika creative writing method.
Marcellus Nealy
ToPoJo Editor.
Marcellus is a poet, lyricist, photographer, NHK announcer, and associate professor of English and Interpersonal Communication for Health Care at Juntendo University. He is also a lyricist, rapper, and MC for the multi-platinum Japanese pop band Dreams Come True. In 2022, he and Biankah Bailey edited an anthology of poetry and art titled UMOJA, The Black Diaspora Edition (Tokyo Poetry Journal). Originally from Cleveland Ohio, he has been living in Japan since
1992. During most of that time, Marcellus has been actively involved in Tokyo’s literary and creative arts scenes.
Jordan A.Y. Smith
Editor. Previously, Editor in Chief at ToPoJo for volumes 7-12, and Japanese Poetry Editor for volumes 2-6.
Jordan writes poetry (Syzygy, Awai Books, 2020) and translates works by the likes of Yoshimasu Gozo (Alice Iris Red Horse, 2016), Mizuta Noriko (The Road Home 2015; Sea of Blue Algae,2016), and various works by Furukawa Hideo, Nagae Yūki, Saihate Tahi, Fuzuki Yumi, Tanikawa Shuntarō, Alberto Fuguet and dozens more. Author of poetry collection Syzygy (Awai Books, 2020). Co-author of √IC: Redux (with Kanie Naha and Nagae Yuki) and Sea of Trees: Poetic Gateways to Aokigahara (with Arai Takako, Osaki Sayaka and Yotsumoto Yasuhiro). Two time national finalist in Poetry Slam Japan.
Previously Associate Professor of International Humanities at Josai International University, and taught at Waseda University, CSU Long Beach, UCLA, Sophia University, Roger Williams Univ, UC Riverside, and Korea Univ. He earned his doctorate at UCLA (Comparative Literature) and researches in translation studies, Japanese literature, and global comedy. Co-founder of CŌEM. Co-founder of KOTOBA Slam Japan. Contributes to BBC Radio's programming on Japan, producing and hosting four programs on Japanese poetry.
See more at his website, Instagram or at his Academia page.
Barbara Summerhawk
ToPoJo's Editor Emeritus, Barbara Summerhawk, makes migratory flights across, the Pacific to her nesting grounds in the Applegate valley in Southern Oregon where she flies her paraglider over the green river where she swims and works with Applegate Poets and the Applegate Partnership and Watershed Council, a nonprofit whose vision is to restore ecological health to the Applegate through riparian restoration, fish barrier removals and educational programs that encourage sustainable land management practices. Returning to Tokyo in the Fall, she teaches grad and undergrad courses at Daito Bunka university.
In 2010 she won the Golden Crown Literary Award for best anthology for Sparkling Rain: Fiction From Women Who Love Women in Japan. Her poetry and fiction has been published in The Spirit that Moves Us, Poet and Critic, Printed Matter, and many anthologies. She holds a 7th dan in aikido and teaches in her dojo in Nishi Tokyo. She always looks forward to getting through the middle of next Tuesday.....
Joy Waller
Joy Waller is a writer and editor based in Tokyo, Japan. Her fiction and poetry have appeared in various literary journals scattered across the globe, and her poetry collection Pause :: Heartbeat was released in 2019. A new book of fragments and ultra-short fiction is in the works. She also works as a technical rewriter and proofreader for tech companies and universities throughout Japan. She is the copyeditor of Tokyo Poetry Journal, hosts a monthly writers’ workshop in Shibuya, and curates the internationally notorious Renegade Book Club on Facebook. She also blogs about creativity, writing, and books at joywaller.com
Xiao Yue Shan
Editor. China / Japan / Canada.
The chapbook, How Often I Have Chosen Love, won the Frontier Poetry Chapbook Prize and was published in 2019. The full length collection, Then Telling Be the Antidote, won the Tupelo Press Berkshire Prize and is forthcoming in 2022. Recipient of a Canadian Council for the Arts grant in 2021 for a collection of Pacific coast-related poetry and photography. Editor-in-Chief of the Beijing-based literature magazine, Spittoon. Blog Editor at Asymptote Journal. Poetry Editor at Cicada.
Board of Advisors
Rona Conti
Forrest Gander
Seiji Lippit
Sawako Nakayasu
Jerome Rothenberg
Doug Slaymaker
John Solt
Keijiro Suga
Previous Editors
Mat Chiappe (V.11)
Taylor Mignon, EiC of V. 1-6
Todd Silverstein (V.8)