I graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1991 with a BSc (1st class honours) in environmental chemistry. Despite the offer of serious employment in the energy industry, a stint in Japan on the JET Programme proved too tempting to turn down, and I took up residence in Kobe in August 1991. A curious addiction to the Hanshin Tigers baseball team and a desire to see Kobe bounce back from the destruction of a major earthquake in 1995 meant that it was 1998 before I returned to the UK. During those 7 years, I managed to pick up a good grasp of the language, and passed level 1 of the Japanese Government’s language proficiency test in 1997.

Having translated in-house for a Japanese chemical company in London for 6 years and for a printer consumables manufacturer in the Midlands for a further 18 months, I turned freelance in December 2005 and have not looked back since.