Recently, I got an email from a translation agency I’d never worked with. They asked if I could review an IR document that, according to them, had been written by a native English speaker.The offered rate was ¥1 per Japanese character. I had to read it twice. In any normal company, when a junior drafts a PowerPoint, it’s the manager who reviews it. The reviewer is more experienced, carries more responsibility, and gets paid more. That’s how it’s supposed to work: the person

My long-time client recently asked me a question that is becoming harder and harder to avoid: “If you use AI for translation, can you lower your rate?” It is not an unfair question. In fact, it is exactly the question anyone would ask. AI has become fast, fluent, and impressively confident. So the logic seems obvious: if the work is faster, the work should be cheaper. That is the theory. The reality is messier. Rather than pushing back on instinct alone, I decided to test it.

Engagement is the only free lunch for all shareholders.

Japanese companies are transforming driven by the TSE’s push for more cost efficient management. In this environment, more and more foreign investors look for the “potential turnaround” companies. However, investors engaging with Japanese listed companies often share a similar frustration. They spend time clarifying their engagement priorities.They carefully draft letters explaining governance concerns, capital allocation expectations, or ESG-related risks.They commission a p