About me

Thank you for visiting this page. Here is a bit about me.

This is what I look like

I have sewn ever since I was a child. My mother made clothes all the time for herself and us kids by sewing, knitting, and crocheting. For a while, she also worked for a private clothing label in Japan. I watched her sew at her sewing machine - a treadle sewing machine, electric domestic sewing machines, and a professional sewing machine. She showed me most of the basic skills in sewing, which paved the way for me to learn more on my own using books and online tutorials. She was always willing to let me try making things with fabric remnants, such as my dolls' clothes, small pouches, and bags. Now I am grateful that she taught me the invaluable skills of sewing, mending/fixing, and making things.

Dresses my mother made for us

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I have done many things so far, and I am happy that I have had the opportunities. Some of them include translation/interpretation, writing, graduate studies (language education, linguistics, and translation studies), teaching (children to adults; ESL, Japanese, and translation), and managing my own small translation business. I have learned a lot with each of the things I did, and now I am happy sewing and engaging in other creative activities.

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I was also involved in some writing before. Below are some books. 

Shell of Moon and Sun: Poems by Misuzu Kaneko 

Translated by Yukari Meldrum and Alice Major; cover illustration by Tiffany Adair

Kaneko Misuzu was born in 1903 and died tragically young at the age of 26. In her short career as a poet, she wrote 512 children’s poems. I had a pleasure of working with Alice Major, a wonderful poet I deeply admire, to make this translation book come true. We spent many afternoons trying to come up with the translations that felt just right in English.

Self-published in 2019. Because of the timing with COVID, we did not have any launch for this book. But it is still found by many people. I'm so grateful that people find joy in this book.

Somnio: The Way We See It

This is a book that four of us got together and made.

The four of us were: 

• Tiffany Adair - talented artist from Edmonton, Alberta
• Pushpa Raj Acharya - wonderful poet from Nepal
• Sharmila Pokharel - another beautiful poet from Nepal
• Yukari Meldrum - me 

There was also translation between English and Nepali, as well as English and Japanese. Also, interaction between art and words. The poets presented words, and the artist provided her interpretation in art. The artist provided her art, and the poets came up with their interpretation in words.

Self-published in 2015 with the help of the Cultural Diversity in the Arts Project Grant from the Edmonton Arts Council and the City of Edmonton.

Will not forget both laughter and tears

This is a book written by Tomoko Mitani, my previous Kumon teacher. I was fortunate to translate it into English. She is a wonderful person full of insights and interesting ideas. If you are interested in what a life of a woman/wife/mother in the Showa period in Japan was like, this book will give you a glimpse into it.

Published in 2013 by the University of Alberta Press

TransLit Volume 9: an anthology of literary translation

I edited this book TransLit Volume 9, an anthology of literary translations, in which there are many different language combinations represented.

All proceeds go to the Association of Translators and Interpreters of Alberta. I am no longer a member of this association because I had to retire from translating, but they do a wonderful job providing the public with access to professional translators and interpreters.

Published in 2012 by the Association of Translators and Interpreters of Alberta.

Contemporary Translationese in Japanese Popular Literature: A descriptive study

This is my Ph.D. thesis that I finished in August 2009.

I believe you can get a free PDF version here. So, there is no need to purchase a copy published by an academic publishing company that contacts every person who finishes a thesis to sell for a ridiculous amount of money.

Although I am no longer involved in research on translation or doing much translation these days because of dyslexia that had resurfaced some years ago, I am still a big fan of talking about translation, language, and linguistics in general.