English Profile

Name: R. Kawachi

I was raised in New Zealand, spending virtually all of my formative years there from the age of 2 to 27. I have now been living in Japan for around 30 years during which time I have honed my Japanese skills to native speaker-level.

I specialize in translating in the Japanese - English language pair, and the fields that I have the most experience and expertise in are:

1) Medical, scientific and technical translation
I have a strong background in science, and units I obtained during the course of my BS (BSc) and MS (MSc) studies at university include not only zoology, but also marine biology, mathematics, statistics, chemistry, biochemistry, microbiology, ecology, botany, anatomy, genetics, limnology, evolutionary biology, developmental psychology, and cognitive psychology among others. I have extensive experience translating everything from academic papers to materials for presentations, conferences, press releases, websites, technical manuals, catalogs, etc.

2) Narration and subtitle translation
I have extensive experience translating narration scripts and subtitles for TV programs, commercials, tourism videos, corporate promotional videos, in-flight videos, etc.

3) General business translation
I have 16 years’ experience working in a business environment at a company in Tokyo. I have a lot of experience translating presentation materials, business proposals, reports, letters of recommendation, pamphlets, corporate websites, catalogs, in-house newsletters, press releases, etc.

4) English writing
I have published countless English educational materials including books, picture books, songs and textbooks for correspondence courses and English conversation schools. I also work as a copywriter, writing tag lines for English advertisements in Japan.

I translate everything from highly specialized academic papers to documents for major, multinational corporations (e.g., Toyota, Sony, Panasonic, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries). I also translate regularly for local administrations and government ministries in Japan including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, and Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology. I am able to provide a highly reliable and professional service to meet the requirements of any job, no matter how complicated, demanding or challenging it may be.

Although New Zealand English is based on British English, I have been working in American English for around 30 years in Japan, and am capable of delivering translations in both British and American English.

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PUBLICATIONS (Miscellaneous)

1) Panasonic (Beautiful Japan) (2015 - 2021)
Japanese to English translation of movies and TV commercials made by Panasonic for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games
Name appeared on the list of people involved in the "Beautiful Japan" project. However, this page was removed after the end of the Olympic Games.

2) 3rd prize in the Dream Quest Poetry Contest - Winter 2014 - 2015 (February 2015)
Title: "Autumn Shadows"
Written by Ryusuke Kawachi
Published online (this is one of the few international poetry contests around with people, many of whom are professional writers, submitting poems from all around the world)

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PUBLICATIONS (English Education)

1) U-CAN no Reading Mondai-shu for the TOEIC TEST (U-CAN’s Textbook of TOEIC Reading Test Problems), April 2010
Published by U-CAN, Inc. (one of the biggest publishers of educational materials in Japan)
General editor: Katsuya Yokomoto
Written by Tomoko Komazaki, Shinichiro Onishi, Isao Terashima, R. Kawachi

2) Bilingual Kids-wo Sodateyo! (Let’s Bring Up Our Kids Bilingual!), February 2008
Published by Media Factory, Inc.
Written by Yukari Morifuji
English rewritten and proofread by Steve (pseudonym) R. Kawachi

3) B.B., Phonics － Stage 1 (picture book series with 26 titles), April 2006
Written and illustrated by R. Hawkes (a pseudonym that is a partial anagram of my name Ryusuke Kawachi)
Introduced in several major magazines in Japan

4) B.B., Phonics － Stage 2 (picture book series with 26 titles), April 2006
Written and illustrated by R. Hawkes (a pseudonym that is a partial anagram of my name Ryusuke Kawachi)
Introduced in several major magazines in Japan

5) Hello Mommy! April 2005
Published by Sogo Horei Publishing Co., Ltd.
Written by Hiroshi Funatsu
English script written by Y. Murakami, Steve (pseudonym) R. Kawachi

6) I have overseen the publication of countless other English educational materials, including books, textbooks, CDs, videos and programs for English conversation schools in Japan. The books listed above are only those in which my name appears inside or on the cover.

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PUBLICATIONS (Marine Biology)

1) International Journal, 1990
Marine Biology 104(2): 227-232
Epizoic diatoms on the euphausiid Nyctiphanes australis: Consequences for gut-pigment analyses of whole krill.
McClatchie, S., R. Kawachi and D.E. Dalley.

2) International Journal, 1991
Continental Shelf Research 11(1): 1-22
Grazing rates of Nyctiphanes australis (Euphausiacea) in the laboratory and Otago Harbour, New Zealand, measured using three independent methods.
McClatchie, S., P. Jaquiery, R. Kawachi and C. Pilditch

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EMPLOYMENT EXPERIENCE

1) ABC, Inc.
January 2007 to the present
Founder of ABC, Inc. I offer a Japanese to English translation and English writing service.

2) Chief Producer & Head Teacher at a company in Tokyo
December 1991 to December 2007
I worked as Chief Producer and Head Teacher at a company in Tokyo that produces English educational materials, and was involved in the production of over 30 textbooks, CDs and videos.

3) Research Assistant, Zoology Dept., University of Otago
August 1990 to December 1990
This was a temporary position, which ended as soon as funding for the research I was involved in ran out.

4) Part-Time Biology Laboratory Instructor, Zoology Dept., University of Otago
February 1987 to November 1989

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SOFTWARE

Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)

I also have extensive experience in the past using Adobe Illustrator (computer graphics), Adobe Photoshop (computer graphics), Dreamweaver (website builder), Strata 3D (3D animation), Shade (3D animation), Quark XPress (desktop publishing), Adobe InDesign  (desktop publishing), Director (movie editing), Premium (movie editing) and SoundEdit (audio editing).

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EDUCATION

Master of Science (MS/MSc) in zoology/marine biology (thesis grade: A-), May 1990
University of Otago, New Zealand

Bachelor of Science (BS/BSc) in zoology, December 1986
University of Otago, New Zealand

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INTERESTS

Outdoor sports (diving, fishing, hiking, etc), drawing and writing (I was also a songwriter in a band that I played in for eight years when I was living in New Zealand).