After graduating with a degree in Chinese it became clear that simply knowing a foreign language did not guarantee a job. I had always been intrigued by Japan, which was a thought leader in management and business at the time, so I went there for a year to study. I then taught English for a brief period before joining Toyota. That was very exciting as it was one of Japan’s leading companies and I was also the first British person to work at its headquarters.

When I came back to Europe I worked at Bath College of Higher Education and then Bath University. During this time I wrote several books on Japan and established the UK’s first MA in interpreting and translating for Japanese and English and Chinese and English.