Katy Bridges has been Japan-obsessed since her first visit to the county during her senior year in college. After living in Tokyo, she moved to Sausalito and was delighted to find the Sausalito-Sakaide exchange program. She first volunteered for the program in 1998. Since then, in addition for interpreting and translating for the program, she chaperoned the 2005 delegates, recruited students, been the liason for the program with the Parks and Rec department, been a day captain, and taught English conversation to each delegation. Over the years, she and her husband Ken Blacklock have hosted several students and both of their children have been student delegates to Sakaide. Katy thinks the program between Sausalito and Sakaide is the best program ever.

Katy Bridges has been a Japanese to English translator since1995, translating in topics from literature to law. She has translated several manga titles, light fiction, and novels, including The Hoax by Io Yasuda. She specializes in works penned by women. She has been a reader for the American Translators Association’s Galantiere Literary prize, translated for Theatre of Yugen founder Yuriko Doi, been a reader for the Masters Program in translation at Kent State University, and worked with artist Matthew Barney.

Katy holds a BA in Political Science from UCLA and an MA in Japanese from San Francisco State University.