JI Team

CEO Ruth Marie Jarman grew up in the multi-cultural paradise of Hawaii. As a child, she spent a year in Edinburgh and has been hooked on “international” adventures ever since. Ruth received a BA at Tufts University in International Relations and came immediately to Japan to enter Recruit Co., Ltd. in 1988. At Recruit Ruth created the Recruit Seagulls Cheerleading team and was the first cheerleader inducted into the Seagulls American Football Hall of Fame in 1993. Ruth received her Japanese language proficiency level 1 certification in 1994 and achieved her Takken (宅地建物取引士)  Japanese real estate license in 2006.Read more about CEO Ruth Marie Jarman.

Takae Ayukawa has had a successful work history with international corporations and education facilities. Her various professional experiences include customer service for a foreign airline (based in a foreign country) as well as work at hotels, in public relations for a tourism association, and was acting secretary for the Japan office in a foreign city. Takae also has taught at a technical college.Takae has a treasury of valuable work experiences that allows her to be a bridge between Japan and foreign countries across several different business fields. Always conscious of the needs of customers, she excels in areas of hospitality and communication.

Emi Onishi brings over one decade of experience in project management and in liaising with customers and staff involved with R&D, QA, and production, during which she cultivated the interpersonal and communication skills required for effective negotiations.

After graduating from university in 1997, Emi became an interpreter and translator for the Kyoto Prefectural Governor. Since 1998, she has held managerial posts in international sales with several Japanese companies including Kyocera, Omron and Saki Corporation.

After Japan’s 2011 March earthquake, Emi worked as an administrative assistant at Toshiba Corporation US Project Team for Fukushima Restoration. She gained her B.A in English from Doshisha University in 1997 and studied at UCLA in an exchange program in 1995-1996.

Akane Oikawa is an experienced director, managing international medical conferences and seminars held in Japan.She also worked as an assistant manager at the public relations section of an English conversation school and secretary.

Akane is highly effective at supporting our partners with her excellent communication ability and a broad point of view derived from her work experience in various industries.

Steven  Liu speaks Chinese, English, and Japanese and is a Social Media Consultant for Jarman International who introduces content and marketing promotions across international channels and helps our clients communicate to potential markets by utilizing different social media mediums such as Facebook, Instagram, Weibo, and WeChat.Steven has a keen understanding of the Asian markets and is an influencer in this field. His role at Jarman International is to help accelerate our clients’ ability to become attractive destinations for visitors from Taiwan.

Sarah Achilles has a 20-year career in international relations, translation and consulting. She has a solid background in advising and working with both Japan-based businesses and global companies doing business in Japan. Sarah’s expertise is in translation, editing and global communication which she has applied to needs across a wide range of industries. Sarah’s projects have had a particular focus on tourism, hospitality, and marketing.

Sarah brings to the Jarman team extensive experience supporting international residents in Japan, in particular women, and a wide network of connections in the Tokyo business community.

At Jarman-international, Sarah has a key role is to support strategy development, execution, and to create and edit niche content to help Japanese companies expand their reach and services to the international community in Japan and beyond.

Judith is the project manager on a project to promote the Kobayashi region of Miyazaki to the international market. Judith has lived in Okayama prefecture for 25 years. She’s originally from Auckland, New Zealand. In NZ, she was elected onto Waitemata City council at the age of 18 years old where she served for three years. She was also a director for PACOM (Pacific Asia Congress of Municipalities) which consisted of councils in the Pacific and Asian countries. She has her own company that works around Japan but in the last nine years, she’s been focusing on West Japan.

Judith brings to the Jarman team her extensive experience and knowledge in inbound tourism and consulting to assist Jarman clients in connecting visitors from around the world.

Tia Haygood is an American photographer with a demonstrated history of working in the photography industry.She’s skilled in taking Event photos, portraits, and also does product photography.

Tia’s main focus is to provide a visual catalyst to improve branding power for local artists and entrepreneurs in the Kanto area. Tia is the image specialist for Jarman International and she brings her expertise in image enhancement of our online content. During her free time, she enjoys cooking new recipes and biking.

Dan Shinder is the CEO/Executive Producer of Drum Talk TV™ which is a show bringing you insightful interviews from the world of drumming.Dan, along with other correspondents around the world, bring you insightful interviews in the world of drumming, covering event and producing documentaries, as well as the interview show.

On their Facebook page they show all of the above, as well as curate videos from they fans all over the world.

Kiyoko Kudo has a degree from Aoyama Gakuin University and was an AFS Exchange student in high school, and stayed in PA, US.After graduation from university, Kiyoko started a career at Morgan Stanley Tokyo and has over 20 years of operations experience with trade support and customer service in both Japanese and English.

In her free time, she enjoys going out for meals with her husband.

She’s also been a huge fan of Japanese pop music artist Hideaki Tokunaga for over 30 years. Kiyoko loves playing golf and going to Japanese Onsen hot-springs. Her favorite place in Japan is Tochigi prefecture where she loves to golf. Kiyoko is helping Jarman’s growth in the golf tourism sector.

Masako Suzuki has had experience as a president’s secretary, has worked in human resources departments as well as general accounting jobs in company administration departments.

Masako is also familiar with the development and operation of professional systems from her experience as a system engineer at a software development company.

Kenichi Kudo has had experience as an expert of Japanese history over 30 years. He has worked at Aoyama Gakuin University, Tamagawa University, and Tsurumi University.

He joined JI team as  the supporter from historical point of view on Jarman International’s projects.  His subject of study is the middle age of Japanese history (Heian & Kamakura  period).

Keiji Yumiyama is the Chairman of the HRM Association of which JI CEO Ruth Jarman is a Director. Keiji brings an extensive knowledge-base of all things related to business consulting to the JI consulting expertise.

An MBA graduate of Thunderbird University, Mr. Yumiyama is privy to an extensive business network in the US and Japan.

Keiji assists the JI Team with excellent advice and guidance on how to get firms connected in certain industries in Japan as he is acutely tuned in to the vast SME community.

Gen Shiraishi is an advisor at Jarman International KK and an associate consultant at Bain & Company in Washington, D.C. Graduated Summa Cum Laude from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service with a B.S. in Foreign Service majoring in International Political Economy and minoring in Chinese.

Gen provides advisory support to Jarman International based on management consulting experience across multiple industries and functions (e.g., M&A support in aerospace and defense, sales force transformation in tech distribution), as well as over 20 years of experience living in Japan as a Japanese-American.

Hana Shiraishi is an advisor at Jarman International KK, currently studying environmental studies and film at McGill University in Montreal, Canada.As a Japanese-American, she has a well-rounded understanding and global perspective on both Western and Asian cultures. When she is back in Japan, Hana also supports Jarman International through her passion for photography by capturing its various cultural beauties. In her free time, Hana makes original videos and songs for her personal YouTube channel.