Graduated from Boston University with a major in International Relations in 1983.
Worked in-house at Mitsubishi Electric for 6 years.
Freelance translator/proofreader for 12 years.
Established MDK Translations, Inc. in 2008, and have been translating and “native checking” (a combo of proofreading and editing) ever since.
I cover a diverse range of areas, including microcomputer manuals, corporate websites (food manufacturing, molding, lighting systems, kimono purveyor, etc.); ads and PR campaigns for major corporations; articles and blurbs for the 2020 Olympics, G20/G7, luxury jewelry, and tourist spots in Tokyo; scripts/subtitles for cultural TV shows; craft instructions (weaving, kanzashi, origami, etc.); travel websites; books on tenugui towels, kimono, and Japanese design. 

After arriving in Japan in 1970, worked in the US Navy as a radioman, for the Department of Defense managing restaurants and clubs, for a college and a university as an instructor, freelance as a writer, an editor, a headhunter, and a consultant, and for various employers, notably the NEC Group, as an instructor, writer, and editor.

Currently employed by Honda Staffing Services Corp., Tokyo (as an editor)
Also currently employed by JKM Consultants, Kamakura (as a consultant and instructor)
Also currently employed by Tokyo Sushi Academy, Tokyo (as a cross-cultural communication curriculum developer and instructor)

I offer native English audiovisual translation and subtitling with passion, focus, quality, and professionalism.
I deliver native English versions of all kinds of audiovisual and related content that are tailored to my clients’ market and the content itself.
I help clients maximize the value of their content, and avoid the trap of amateur and poor quality translation.
I have a unique combination of media production, business and translation experience and training, which allows me to add value in my translations, as well as in delivery and service standards.
I use SST subtitling software, and deliver on time in a variety of formats to meet my client’s needs.

I was formerly an intellectual property lawyer, but in 2011, decided to use my Japanese language and cultural knowledge, and my longstanding interest in film and documentaries, more directly. I chose subtitling as my focus because it offers a great opportunity to do this.

I relish the challenge of coming up with inventive ways to translate something complex or culturally unfamiliar in a limited space on screen. I aim to distil the essence of the original dialogue in concise and culturally meaningful English that matches the tone of the work.

I completed audiovisual translation training at the Japan Audiovisual Translation Academy in Tokyo. I worked as a Tokyo-based freelance translator focusing on audiovisual content, with a sideline in legal editing until late 2019, and now work in-house for the SBS television network in Australia as a subtitle editor and subtitler.

Please see goo.gl/xcriE3 for my profile in English and goo.gl/SGJgn7 in Japanese (日本語のプロフィール).

See http://www.jjtranslation.com/pdf/20140901_Anthology_Essay_E.J.pdf for an article describing how I moved from lawyering to subtitling. It also offers some practical commentary on what it takes to create good subtitles (first published in the Japan Association of Translators’ Translator Perspectives 2014).

- In the translation industry since 1997
- BA in English and minor in Japanese, UCI
- TEFL certificate, UCI
- Technical editing class, UCB