The “Yaraku-Jin” (People of Yaraku) series explores the essence of Yaraku and Yaraku Translate by focusing on the people involved—our team members, customers who use Yaraku Translate, and our partners. This time, we spoke with Yaeno Hori, who handles marketing in the Direct Sales Team.

What is your current role at Yaraku?

I handle overall marketing. Specifically, I manage advertising campaigns and email newsletters.

Before Yaraku: Graduating in the UK and Heading to Vietnam

What kind of work did you do before joining the company?

My career has been about a 50/50 split between marketing and sales. I started out doing sales for six months at a Japanese recruiting agency in Vietnam.

I attended university in the UK, but when I finished, the timing didn’t align with the traditional Japanese job-hunting season. Besides, I had this strong feeling that I didn’t really want to work in Japan anyway.

I happened to get an offer from that company in Vietnam. I told them, “Give me a week to think about it,” but I ended up not thinking about it at all and just said, “I’ll go.” I’d never even been to Vietnam, so I figured I’d just give it a shot.

During her stay in Vietnam ✨

How did you end up shifting into marketing?

While I was working for the recruitment agency in Vietnam, I got an enquiry from a real estate company saying they were looking for a Japanese person. Since they needed someone who spoke the language, I just asked them on the spot, “Well, how about me?” That job sounded interesting, and I joined the company that same day.

That’s where I started doing marketing, but there was no one there to teach me anything. I had to learn everything by looking things up on Google.

I even put my own face in a free magazine for Japanese expats. Later on, when I went to do sales at industrial parks, people would say, “Oh, I’ve seen your face before!” I realised that getting your face out there is actually quite effective.

What was the deciding factor for joining Yaraku?

I have a dog, Pochi, so I was looking for a company where I could work remotely while doing marketing. I did a lot of research and applied to several places, but I kept feeling like, ‘This isn’t quite the one.’ But at Yaraku, the first interview with Makiko-san (HR manager) was amazing. I believe HR is the face of the company; I found her so engaging and easy to talk to, which made me feel that this must be a great company. That’s how I decided to join.

Now, Pochi is doing his part as a member of the Yaraku staff.

When do you find marketing most rewarding?

The reward comes when I get a reaction. It’s things like seeing someone download resources after I’ve run an ad, or noticing an increase in enquiries from a newsletter.

I love taking on new challenges, so I’m really grateful for an environment that lets me keep going through that process of trial and error.

Do you have a vision for the future?

At Yaraku, I want to keep identifying marketing strategies that actually work. We’re moving past the era of SEO, so I want to demonstrate what the next effective approach will be.

With AI spreading so rapidly, everyone in marketing and across the industry is still figuring things out. I hope to discover what specifically works for Yaraku.

Life in the UK, Exploring the Middle East: 40+ Countries

Shaping a Resilient and Adaptable Mindset

What kind of child were you?

Since my parents were very education-oriented, I was a diligent student and quite savvy back in elementary school. However, everything changed when I went abroad to the UK for the first time in year five. Not being able to speak the language was a massive hurdle. It was pretty tough, and it might have changed me in many ways. Being Asian, I experienced things like discrimination too. Looking back now, it had a really positive influence on me, but those three and a half years were definitely a struggle.

Was there any memorable moments during your time in the UK as a child?

Definitely! There was this male teacher in my art class. Since I didn’t know any English yet, I looked up the word for “male” in my electronic dictionary, and “gentleman” was the word that came up. “Man” would have been fine, really.

So, I said to my classmates, “The art teacher is a gentleman” and everyone just burst out laughing. It wasn’t exactly a shock, but it really stuck with me. I don’t know why, but I still 　remember it even now.

―The experience of being a “minority” must have had a big impact on your life.

It did. To survive in that kind of environment, you have to become strong. Living abroad and navigating male-dominated societies, I realised that I couldn’t afford to be weak. I decided to start by making myself physically strong and changing how I looked.

I’ve also travelled to places like the Middle East. At the time, ISIS was all over the news. So I decided to learn some Arabic. I wanted to make sure that if I ever was captured, I could at least say my name and “I’m Japanese.” I also learned some self-defence.

―That’s so cool! You’ve visited well over 10 countries by now, haven’t you?

Actually, it’s 41 now.

―That’s incredible! With all that experience, what do you find most appealing about Yaraku?

The best part of the company, I believe, is that there are so many different kinds of people. Even just within my team, everyone has such a unique personality. But at the same time, everyone is incredibly kind and nobody does anything negative.

At first, it actually felt a bit strange to me. At my previous job, people would talk bad about each other, but no one does that here. Everyone is so polite even on Slack and always says “thank you.” I love that there’s genuine mutual respect. Even Suguru-san doesn’t feel like distant, out-of-reach CEO; he’s actually easy to talk to.

Pochi meeting Yaraku Staff during the hiking event 🐶