Scientific editing and translation

Jeremy Angel grew up in the UK and earned a BA in zoology at Oxford University and postgrad diploma in social anthropology at the London School of Economics. He has lived in Japan since 1976, working at first as an assistant to animal writer Masanori Hata 'Mutsugoro', and then from 1980 as a producer of Hata's famous TV documentary series on animals, with particular responsibility for overseas filming, while also penning a number of books in both Japanese and English. Jeremy has been translating professionally since 1998, and specializes in bio- and environment-related material. He lives in idyllic rural surroundings in Nagano, Japan, with wife and rhubarb farmer Chiyoko, and otherwise only a dog and cat now that their four kids have flown the coop.

Claire Debenham graduated from University College London with a degree in Human Sciences and then trained as a copy editor at the Royal Society, working on their world-renowned biological journals. She then worked as a desk editor for Random Century (now Penguin Random House) with responsibility for science reference books before moving to Tokyo in 1991 as a mission partner of the Nippon Sei Ko Kai (Anglican/Episcopal Church in Japan). After having spent some years working on the English-language publications of the Center for a Christian Response to Asian Issues of the National Christian Council of Japan (NCC-J) and the NCC-J Center for the Study of Japanese Religions, she gained a Master of Theological Studies degree from the Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, USA in 2000. The same year she married a Japanese surgeon, moved to Osaka, and started working as a freelance translator specializing in medical and biological sciences, a career that she continues today. She returned to the UK in 2013 and is now based near Cambridge.

Gen Del Raye grew up in Kyoto, Japan and earned his B.S. and M.S. in biology from Stanford University. His PhD is in oceanography (University of Hawaii at Manoa). His background includes fish ecophysiology, climate change impacts, and exercise physiology. He has been working as a freelance translator and editor since 2015. His translations include The Sea of Japan: Unraveling the Mysteries of its Hidden Depths, published by JPIC. Currently, he lives in Minneapolis, MN.

Shinichiro Egawa received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from the Graduate School of Fisheries Science (now renamed the Department of Biological Resources), Mie National University. His master's thesis was on marine planktonic red tide organisms. From 1982, he worked as an employee of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government at experimental and research institutes for the fisheries industry (Izu Oshima, Katsushika-ku, Hachijojima, etc.). From 2003 to 2019, he worked at aquariums and zoos under the jurisdiction of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government (Kasai Aquarium and Ueno Zoo). Currently, he works as a technical specialist for fisheries information services using satellites, and has been reviewing Japanese translations of natural science texts at ELSS for nearly 20 years. He lives in Japan.

Bob Kawaratani earned a BA in biology from Claremont Men’s College (now Claremont McKenna College) and an MA in biology and Doctor of Environmental Science and Engineering (D.Env.) from UCLA. He worked for electric power industry research institutes in the United States and Japan for fifteen years followed by twenty years at Swedish and American multinational packaging companies as an environmental specialist and manager in Japan. Bob has worked with ELSS since 2008. Currently, he lives in Kyoto.

Stephen Moore earned his B.S. in chemistry from the University of Auckland (New Zealand). Subsequently, he studied at Tokyo University and received an M.S. in chemistry in 1990. He has been a translator since 1991, and working with ELSS since 2004. He is currently based in Singapore. His interests include cycling on folding bikes, dachshunds, and last but not least motorsport. He competed as a navigator in the World Rally Championship (WRC) three times, of course alongside a Japanese driver, and has also raced on ice in Japan and at numerous circuits in Japan including Tsukuba Circuit. His current business interests include the application of AI and machine learning to analysis of commodity markets.

Naoyuki Ochiai grew up in Vancouver, Canada and Pennsylvania. After spending six years as an English instructor/international exchange coordinator in Kyoto, Japan, he returned to the US to earn an M.S. and PhD in soil science from Oregon State University specializing in soil-borne plant pathogens. He has been working as a freelance translator since 2010 and is currently residing in Vancouver, Washington (USA), where he splits his time between work, family, and his two other passions, music (violin) and coaching competitive soccer.

Louisa Rubinfien earned her PhD in Japanese history at Harvard University and currently teaches history at the University of Maryland, College Park. She has translated numerous Japanese academic works on economic and business history as well as materials for commercial and museum use. She spent many years of her childhood and later academic training in Tokyo.

Andrew Welford grew up in the U.K. and earned a B.Sc. in Electronic Engineering and Physics at Loughborough University. By a circuitous route, he wound up in Japan and ended up working as a freelance translator, which he has succeeded at for over 20 years. He has translated documents covering the emergence and development of new technologies in a wide range of fields, including semiconductors, telecommunications, control systems and battery technology. His interests include cycling and, being a generalist by nature, trivia quizzes.

Daisuke Yanase studied plant physiology and earned his PhD at Kyoto University’s Division of Agricultural Biology. He worked the first 20 years of his career in agrochemical research and development and pharmaceutical quality control at a chemical company, and the next 10 years translating pharmacovigilance and regulatory documents between Japanese and English at a pharmaceutical company. Currently he is the Master Linguist at a Tokyo-based translation company, providing technical instructions, in-house education, and quality control services on pharmaceutical and medical translations. Since 2014, he has been on the steering committee of JATPHARMA, the biomedical working group of the Japan Association of Translators, and has so far delivered more than 10 presentations. He also wrote a paper on Japanese-to-English translation by Japanese speakers. He lives in Japan.