Staff - 海 - UMI CO., LTD. -

Representative DirectorUmi Mizuguchi

Graduated from the Department of Japanese Language and Literature, Faculty of Education, Waseda University. While studying library and information science and information literacy, Umi worked for the English edition of a major Japanese newspaper, a news agency specializing in finance and economics and a broadcasting station. After working as a director of news and information programs for TV Asahi, she began working independently in 2008 and established Umi Co., Ltd. in 2010. She has passed the Japanese Language Teaching Competency Test and holds qualifications including those of certified librarian, licensed real estate agent, psychological counselor, J.S.A. wine expert, WSET® certified Level 3 expert in wines, and sake taster. She has a global network of human resources and information.
Research and translation
(English)Asako Ito

Asako holds a B.A. in Asian Studies from the College of Liberal Arts, Hawaii Pacific University, and a master’s degree in International Business from the Graduate School of Business at the same university. After graduation, she ran a wholesale and retail business in Indonesia for five years. Since returning to Japan in 2003, she has worked actively as a freelance translator, focusing on the field of business and financial economics. She specializes in investor relations, financial reports, real estate, insurance, auditing, contracts, internal documents, marketing, CSR, manuals, and market research projects; she has also worked on a wide range of academic projects, including papers and abstracts in economics, business administration, environmental studies, ethnology, education and agriculture. Asako achieved a TOEIC score of 990.
Research and translation
(English)Yūka Yoshida

Graduated from First Literature Department of Waseda University. Since becoming a freelance translator in 2008, Yuka has been involved in E-J and J-E translation, rewriting and proofreading work in a wide range of genres, most notably video games, entertainment, tourism, beauty / fashion, and culture. With a deep knowledge of art, she has translated and proofread art books and exhibition materials both in Japan and abroad including those related to traditional and modern Japanese art. Her long career history includes translations and proofreading of TV programs, major video games, market research, websites, product materials, contracts, news reports/press releases and manuals for renowned global brands, international organizations, local governments, and major broadcasting stations.
Research, translation and proofreading
(English)Leeyong Soo

Leeyong holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Monash University, Victoria, Australia. While at university, she majored in German and Japanese and studied at the University of Bonn, Germany, and Chiba University. After graduation, she became an international fashion coordinator for Vogue Nippon (now Vogue Japan). She was contracted by Condé Nast Japan, the Japanese subsidiary of Condé Nast Publications, where she worked as an editor, writer and photography coordinator, as well as by WGSN, a membership-based provider of fashion, beauty and consumer trend information. She has also translated a wide range of publications including Tuttle Publishing’s books on lifestyle, fashion and humanities, as well as Shiseido’s salon magazines. She currently works as a translator, writer, reviewer and coordinator for such publications as BRUTUS and madame FIGARO japon.
Research and translation
(Chinese)Natsuko Matsuhashi

Graduated from the Department of Chinese Language, Faculty of Foreign Languages, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. Natsuko studied at Xiamen University in Fujian Province, China. After graduation, she worked as a conference and interpretation coordinator for a major convention company. After working as an in-house translator at a law firm specializing in legal affairs in East Asia and China and as a technical advisor to the Secretariat of the Food Safety Commission of the Cabinet Office (translation and research projects), she became a freelance Chinese translator in 2009. She has worked on a variety of projects ranging from law and economics to natural science.
She co-translated ‘My Uncle Zhou Enlai’ (2019, published by Nihon Kyoho-sha).
Research, translation and proofreading
(Chinese)Liu Chungyi

After graduating from the College of Law, National Taiwan University, Taiwan, Chungyi obtained a master’s degree in Japanese-Chinese interpretation and translation from the Institute of Translation and Interpretation Studies, Fu Jen University. During this period, she was enrolled as a research student for one year in the regional economy seminar of the Department of Economics at Yokohama National University. She has been active as an interpreter and translator since she was a student at the Institute of Translation and Interpretation Studies. She has worked on a wide range of projects, including various international conferences, field surveys, interpreting for interviews and film productions, business documents, contracts, proposals and presentation materials. Currently based in Taiwan, she focuses mainly on supporting Taiwan-Japan research cooperation for a Taiwanese government think tank. She has extensive experience in projects related to hot topics such as green energy and smart medicine.
Research, translation and proofreading
(Spanish, Portuguese and English)Candy Kanami Sakura

Born in Peru, Candy moved with her family to Japan after graduating from elementary school. After graduating from high school, she returned to Peru. She worked as a reporter interpreter and assistant at the Peruvian bureau of a major Japanese news agency and supported Japanese companies’ expansion into South America before working as a civil servant at the Consulate General of Peru in Japan. Afterwards, she worked for a Japanese translation company for six years in translation, editing and localization before going freelance. In addition to translation and proofreading work, she currently works as a narrator and announcer for a PA system, and as a Spanish interpreter and training administrator for JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency). She holds JLPT Level 1 certification.
Research, translation and proofreading
(Turkish & English)Machiko MUKAI MERT

Graduated from Osaka University of Foreign Studies, Department of Middle Eastern Culture, majoring in Turkish. After studying literature at Istanbul University and in the UK, Machiko worked for seven years as an inbound manager at a travel agency in Istanbul. In 2006, she started her own business as a freelance translator and interpreter, focusing on Turkish, English and Japanese. Based in Turkey, she has a wide range of experience, including interpreting for newspapers, translating academic papers and legal documents, creating websites for Japanese automobile and machinery manufacturers and translating subtitles of Turkish TV dramas into Japanese. She holds a CPE from Cambridge University.

* For other languages, we have partnerships with over 100 specialists with whom we communicate face-to-face. In cooperation with professional linguists in various fields and partner companies, we organize a special team for each project according to the requirements of your request. Our translators, checkers and proofreaders with their respective specialties and areas of expertise will provide you with the most appropriate words and texts to accommodate your specific needs.