I am very sorry today to have to report that Gene van Troyer, a fellow American expat here in Japan and the man primarily responsible for the entire Speculative Japan concept, died on Friday, July 17 of cancer.
I had known of Gene for years, primarily through the Honyaku Benkyōkai, but had never met him until the 2007 Worldcon in Yokohama, where we talked of the Speculative Japan anthology and SF in general. We had an awful lot of friends in common, and a lot to talk about...

And now I'll never have the chance to do it again.

Thanks, Gene. I'll miss you.