Who we are
Change the way translation assets are created and managed today.
Who we are
Company Name
Yaraku, Inc.
Location
Tokyo HQ:
Link Square Shinjuku 16F, 5-27-5 Sendagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 151-0051
Europe Office:
207 Av. Louise bte 4, 1050 Bruxelles, Belgium
Founded
August 2009
President & CEO
Suguru Sakanishi
Number of Employees
39 (As of December 2025) [ Careers ]
Website
Corporate page (https://www.yaraku.com/en/about/)
Capital
¥ 222,090,165 (including capital reserve)
Business
Planning, development, and operation of multilingual communication tools
Investors
Konica Minolta, Inc., Advanced Media, Inc., Sony Network Communications Inc., Dogan Beta Inc, Board members, employees etc.
Directors
President, CEO
Suguru Sakanishi
After studying accounting at UCLA Extension, gained business development experience in New York, where he helped launch the startup Info-fresh.com and later founded a marketing agency. In 2009, he returned to Japan and established Yaraku Inc., launching its AI-powered CAT tool in 2014 to address the evolving needs of the translation industry.
He is the author of Jidou Honyaku Taizen, a book that introduces practical strategies for streamlining English communication using machine translation.
Director CTO
Jonas Rydenhag
From Sweden. After spending approximately eight years working on web development in Gothenburg and contributing to numerous projects, he decided to relocate to Japan, a long-held interest. He first spent two years studying Japanese to deepen his understanding of the culture and language, then joined the Yaraku team to leverage both his language skills and technical background.
Executive Officer, Head of Sales Division
Kazuhiro Nagao
Born in Fukuoka. After graduating from Kyushu Institute of Design (now Kyushu University), he began his career at a trading company, spending approximately 30 years in sales, business development, and sales organization management. In 2001, he joined McAfee Japan as head of domestic sales. He then generated significant results in domestic strategy planning and business development at multiple global SaaS companies. He joined Yaraku in 2024.
Outside Director
Yuichi Yatsuhashi
Born in Chiba Prefecture and graduated from the University of Tokyo. Joined the then-little-known Boston Consulting Group, where he worked on business strategy projects for various companies. Later transitioned to the private equity sector. Currently focused on nurturing the next generation of business leaders.
Professor at Graduate School of Leadership and Innovation, Shizenkan University
Director of GDX Co.,Ltd.
Outside Director
Kenichiro Kusuyama
Kenichiro graduated from International Christian University in 1996 and began his career in overseas sales at Sharp Corporation. He later joined CyberAgent during its early startup phase, followed by Thomson Reuters, where he led the growth of its online media presence and headed the Media Division in Japan, launching key partnerships with major media companies. He went on to serve as an Executive Officer at Aucfan Co., Ltd., before founding Principle Co., Ltd.
Audit & Supervisory Board Member (Outside)
Nobutoshi Maeda
Nobutoshi is the President & CEO of NV Ventures Co., Ltd., which he founded in 2019 after working at Nippon Investment & Finance (now Daiwa Corporate Investment) and WERU Investment. With over 20 years of experience supporting university-based technology startups, he has also served in various government initiatives, including as a promoter of the START Project by Japan’s Ministry of Education and an advisor to the Cabinet Office. He currently serves as a mentor and advisor for multiple deep tech and innovation programs across Japan.
Supervisor
Chief Evangelist / Supervisor
Masaru Yamada
Born in Tokyo. He holds an M.A. in Linguistics from West Virginia University (USA) and a Ph.D. in Intercultural Communication / Translation and Interpreting Studies from Rikkyo University Graduate School. After working as an in-house interpreter at Ford Motor Company and as an industrial translator, he founded Honyaku Labo Co., Ltd. He has served as a board member of the Japan Association for Interpreting and Translation Studies and the Asia-Pacific Association for Machine Translation (AAMT).
Executive Advisor
Executive Advisor
Kenzo Oiwa
Born in Fukuoka. He has held key positions for over 30 years at major foreign-owned IT companies, including Executive Officer at Symantec Corporation, Director of Consumer Business at McAfee Japan, Senior Executive Vice President at Lenovo Japan, and President & CEO of Acronis Japan.
Leveraging his extensive IT industry experience and broad network, he is dedicated to redefining the social value of AI-powered translation tools, working at the intersection of translation and digital transformation.