Simon VarnamSimon Varnam was raised in a large family in the south of England on a diet of music, science fiction and walks in the country. He moved to Japan shortly after he finished college at Bangor, North Wales, where besides reading Physical Oceanography an Math he spent much effort on mountaineering and horn-playing. Having failed to become competent in French despite five years of study at secondary school, he was surprised to find that, thanks to complete immersion in the far north of the Tōhoku region, he picked up Japanese with relatively little effort. Twenty years later, he passed JLPT level 1 at first try and discovered the internet which led him to Japanese conservation organizations who needed English versions of their documents. Since then he has translated (presentations, documents, articles, video subtitles and website pages) in a variety of fields; biodiversity and conservation, nuclear engineering, Japanese culture and an old love, science fiction. Simon now lives in the countryside at the foot of Mt Fuji with a Japanese wife, daughter and cat, and a garden full of wildlife. Read More Read Less