Hannah Kentridge

N1+ Japanese speaker with media experience, good writing skills and an outgoing personality. BA (4 years) and MPhil (2 years) in Japanese Studies from the University of Oxford (Pembroke College).

YouTube and Media (2011 - Present)

Bilingual Video Blogger

• Created and grew a YouTube channel documenting my Japanese language studies and life in Japan
• Over 125,000 subscribers and over 13 million lifetime views
• Solely responsible for scripting, recording, editing, subtitling and publicising videos, as well as managing brand relations and collaborations with companies including Rosetta Stone

• In 2016 I was invited by the national TV Channel, TV Tokyo, to appear in a television programme titled ‘Gaikokujin no Youtuber ga Kita’ (‘A Foreign YouTuber Has Come.’) I was the subject of a 30-minute travel documentary which followed my experiences as a Japanese-speaking foreigner travelling in southern Japan.
• In 2021, I appeared on the morning show, Zoom In! Saturday on Nippon TV, where I commented on the Tokyo Olympics Opening Ceremony as part of a panel of foreign representatives.
• Interviewed by the Japan Times, Eikoku News Digest, Asahi Shimbun and the Daily Telegraph.

Front Desk Attendant

• Assisted in operations for the resort’s merchandising outlet, as well as general administration tasks.
• Bilingual customer relations, including interpreting as well as translating written materials and signage.
• Responsible for making tannoy announcements across the resort in English as well as Japanese.

Self-employed, Leeds LGBT+ Community Consortium

• Employed as a private English tutor for an 8-year-old Japanese girl during my year studying at Kobe University. I planned my own lessons, and we met twice a week to practice reading, writing and conversation.
• I led an online 5-week course in beginner's Japanese language and culture for Leeds LGBTQ+ Community Consortium. Culture topics included: Overview of the Japanese Language, Food and Seasons in Japan, LGBTQ+ Life in Japan, Work in Japan, and Japanese Art, Media and Literature.

Oxford University Press, MetaphLab

• Translated a Japanese review of the Philosophy book ‘On Romantic Love’ by Berit Brogaard for OUP.
• I am currently assisting MetaphLab with their English translations of popular Japanese YouTube videos.

• Education

Japanese Studies MPhil

• Sasakawa Foundation Scholar, Tanaka Graduate Scholar.
• 30,000 word thesis titled ‘Language used by LGBTQ+ Japanese Twitter Users’.
• Video production for aspects of Pembroke College events, including Open Day, and a virtual exchange between Pembroke undergraduates and students from Technos College in Japan.
• Organiser of Japanese Studies Taster day at Pembroke for Dartford Grammar School students.
• LGBTQ+ Representative for Pembroke College MCR.

Japanese Studies BA (Hons)

• TEPCo Prize for distinguished performance in First Public Examination of Japanese.
• 15,000 word dissertation titled ‘Language used by sexual minorities on the Japanese internet’.
• Sole organiser of formal ‘Nippon Dining’ event for the Japanese Studies Department.
• LGBTQ+ Representative for Pembroke College JCR.
• Year Abroad at Kobe University 2016-2017.

A Levels: A*A*A (German, Latin, French) AS: A (History)

GCSEs: 9 A*s 2As (Including an A* in Japanese - 297/300)