OUR TEAM

With a background in Japanology, Louie spent his student years researching Japan and all things Japanese while completing a bachelor’s degree at the University of Edinburgh, a master’s degree at Leiden University and two years studying abroad in Japan at Waseda University and Doshisha University.
Now at Sugata, he manages research projects spanning the consumer, business and medical sectors with a particular focus on the B2B and B2C tech space. Leveraging his experience and expertise he helps clients uncover culturally contextual insights into the nuances of the Japanese market and works with them to refine and develop their business strategies in Japan.
In his free time, he enjoys healthy cooking and going to the gym.

Tokyoite and long-time denizen of Asia, Dave has lived and worked in both Japan and Singapore, helping global brands connect with people and culture in developed and developing markets throughout the APAC region and North America, including Australia, Canada, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan. Dave has served as Vice-Chair of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan’s Marketing Programs Committee, holds a Master’s degree in East Asian Business and a Bachelor’s degree in Japanese Studies from the University of Sheffield’s School of East Asian Studies, and has studied at Tokyo’s International Christian University. In his free time Dave enjoys exploring Tokyo's many neighborhoods while indulging his passion for bistros, craft beers and low impact cardio. 

Classically trained as a cultural anthropologist, Andrew comes to Sugata from a background in market research and advertising in Tokyo, investment banking in China and government consulting in Washington DC.
Having spent many formative years in Japan his knowledge of the Japanese market and consumers come for a deep well of personal experience and professionally honed insight.
When not working with clients to uncover the driving forces of consumer behavior in Japan you will likely find Andrew exploring the back streets of Tokyo or working on a new writing project.

Having grown up in Japan, England and Belgium, Kana learnt the joy of interacting with people from different countries and cultures from an early age. Upon returning to Japan she joined Sugata in 2012 where she now works with both domestic and international clients, managing research projects covering a wide range of industries from BtoC, BtoB and healthcare. Through project management she relishes making new discoveries, building her expert market knowledge and meeting new people from around the world.
As a mother of one daughter and a Yorkie, on her days off, she spends a lot of time outdoors enjoying the nature and chasing after pigeons!

With over 15 years of research experience in consumer trend and lifestyle fields, Makoto has extensive knowledge of generational characteristics and their changes over time. At Sugata Research, he has managed numerous qualitative research projects using a wide range of research methodologies and techniques to gain deeper insights. He backs this up with quantitative skills and international project experience.
A father of two who's always on full throttle to satisfy his abundant curiosity.

Blake lived in Japan in 2005 and 2010 through exchange programs in high school and college, respectively. After working for a Japanese travel company in the US for several years, he made his way back to Japan in 2017 to complete a Master of International Relations program in Kyoto.
Passionate about research and problem-solving, working at Sugata not only allows Blake to utilize his knowledge to help clients better realize their marketing goals in Japan, but to deepen his own understanding of the Japanese experience.
In his free time, Blake enjoys visiting third-wave coffee shops, drinking Japanese craft beer, listening to Japanese indie and Korean pop music, working out, and following news and politics.

Ruri is a bilingual qualitative market researcher with experience in various industries such as medicine, technology and consumer goods. She also has a background in recruitment and moderation, which serves to provide a robust and multidimensional understanding of the Japan consumers in market research projects. Ruri has a lot of hobbies: she paints, reads, watch movies and go on very long walks. She also likes visiting izakayas and she can't wait to travel the world soon.

Raised in Belgium by a Japanese mother and a kiwi father, Chisa grew up in a multinational environment. She completed a bachelor’s degree in International Business and a master’s degree in Management in Belgium. During her master’s degree, she did an exchange at Keio University in Economics. Chisa first joined Sugata as an intern during her bachelor’s degree and joined as a full-time employee after finishing her studies. In her free time, Chisa likes going to art museums, trying new restaurants around Tokyo with her friends, drawing and watching anime. One thing to keep in mind when talking to Chisa, please don’t use the word "French fries" but rather say "Frites/frietjes"!

Megumi's passion in research roots from her university years as a psychology major. After graduation, she worked 2 years as a systems engineer and 5 years as a retail marketing specialist. She learnt the fascination of qualitative research through research and data analysis responsibilities and joined Sugata Research in 2023.
Megumi loves to draw and is dedicated to making a free monthly magazine for a greengrocer friend.

Feodora was born and raised in Indonesia. She has always wanted to study abroad, always curious to find out what it would be like to fully immerse herself in another country's culture. That is precisely why she enrolled in a Japanese university in International Relations. With no knowledge of the Japanese language, she only had the courage and motivation to get her through. Feodora had her internship in one of the biggest local shouchuu (Japanese liquor) breweries in Kagoshima as part of the business development team, and then in an online news platform as a copywriter. Those experiences led her to become interested in learning more about the marketing world, landing her a job in Sugata Research. During her free time, she likes to visit cat cafes or jog when she's feeling energetic. She also likes to listen to sad music, even when she's happy.

Camilla was born and raised in Italy until the age of 17 when they moved to the US to pursue higher education in anthropology and religious studies. During those years, Camilla developed an interest in globalization processes, health, world issues, and Japanese culture which led them to enroll in a Japanese university for their Master’s Degree in Global Studies. In fall of 2020 Camilla was finally able to move to Tokyo and during their studies, they worked as a social media manager for a local NPO and then as a digital marketer for a Japanese language school. These experiences pushed Camilla to seek employment in marketing and they joined Sugata after graduating. In their free time, Camilla enjoys exploring Tokyo, playing video games, trying new cafes, eating good food, reading, and cooking.

Having grown up in an Italian household in Switzerland, Vanessa has navigated between cultures since an early age. During her studies in Multilingual Communication, she deepened her knowledge in languages, cultures, and translation, but was ultimately fascinated by the world of marketing.
After working in PR and Marketing for different European and American consumer brands in Switzerland, she moved to Japan to pursue Japanese language studies. There she had a brief stint at Waseda University and a teaching job in Nagano, to then return to Tokyo to join Sugata.
When she is not at work, she likes singing her heart out at Karaoke, listening to Japanese indie rock music and exploring Tokyo’s coffee shops, while trying to squeeze in Japanese study sessions.

After earning her Bachelor’s degree in graphic design, Mirano Suzuki went on to obtain a master’s degree in critical design from the Design Academy Eindhoven in the Netherlands. She gained experience as a researcher at a design consulting firm before joining Sugata Research in 2024.
Mirano focuses on deeply understanding the latent needs and emotions of Japanese consumers by leveraging the insights and curiosity cultivated through her creative endeavors and research, along with the empathy developed from her international background. In her personal life, she enjoys exploring the city, particularly taking leisurely walks after enjoying delicious meals and drinks, and spending time observing birds in Tokyo.

Tomoko joined Sugata Research in 2010. As a Senior Recruit Director, she specializes in recruiting difficult-to-find candidates and handling complicated segment requirements for a wide range of industries including B2C, healthcare, and medical. In her free time, Tomoko enjoys camping out with her family and dreams of living among animals (especially dogs and cats).

She joined Sugata after gaining experience in the retail, services and medical market research industries. This experience taught her the importance of providing robust recruiting and fieldwork to ensure clients receive the highest quality research possible.

In her spare time she loves to travel, especially visiting islands. She has been to several in Kyushu and the Setouchi area and looks forward to going island hopping in East Japan soon.

Tomoya initially joined Sugata Research in 2014 with a sales background in the toiletries industry. With 7.5 years of professional recruitment experience in various fields and methodologies of marketing research, he left Sugata to further develop his skills in customer success and customer satisfaction at a foreign IT provider of international online research platforms, before rejoining Sugata in 2023.
Tomoya offers a full range of specialized skills across all research topics including B2C, Healthcare, and Experts.

As a Recruit Director mainly responsible for recruiting respondents in B2B fields, Hirotaka also covers recruitments in B2C and medical (physicians) fields. He is dedicated to scout difficult-to-find candidates.

Ai joined Sugata Research following a successful career in market research and other fields. She specializes in developing survey pages and monitoring data, with focus on creating user-friendly data files and survey pages that are easily understandable for respondents as well as the research team. In her free time, Ai enjoys cooking, baking, making accessories (with beads, resin, mizuhiki) and smartphone covers, traveling, and gaming. She is deeply in love with 2 cats living with her parents at home.

Sayaka joined Sugata Research after working as a sales representative for an infrastructure company. As a senior recruit coordinator responsible for recruitment of a wide range of respondents from consumer to patients, Sayaka is focused and dedicated to taking her job seriously and maintaining high quality on a continued basis.
In her free time, she enjoys watching movies at cinema and relaxing at sauna. Her dream is to visit Finland to experience the real Finnish sauna.

After graduating from university, Takeshi stayed in New York on a language exchange and was strongly inspired by the melting pot of races and cultures. He then traveled around the world to experience the unknowns and worked in Papua New Guinea as a Japan Overseas Cooperation volunteer. Upon his return to Japan, Takeshi worked for a solutions firm as a social media operator/analyst before joining Sugata Research. Working at Sugata allows Takeshi to be a bridge that builds connections between people as well as between things.

In his free time, Takeshi enjoys watching NBA, listening to podcasts, and visiting world heritage sites (passed Grade 1 of the World Heritage Examination).

Saki joined Sugata Research after 3.5 years with an IT service firm. She decided to develop a new career in marketing research after growing passionate about research through involvements in customer survey projects at her former job. With the main focus on medical fields, she continues to enhance her recruiting skills to accommodate a wider range of topics.
Saki loves music of all genres, movies, TV dramas, art exhibitions, and French-related items. She attends music festivals and concert tours on a frequent basis to pursue her passion in live musical performance.

Ayumi joined Sugata Research with professional backgrounds in the beauty industry. After experiencing sales operations at Sugata, she is now responsible for recruiting respondents in B2C and other sectors as a coordinator in the field team.
In her personal life, Ayumi is a mother of 2 energetic children and enjoys spending relaxing moments with her family at beach and other places rich in nature.

Tomoyuki joined Sugata Research in August 2021 after working for other organizations in civil service and research sectors. You will see him working hard everyday to find ways to brighten this COVID-19 hit world with the power of research.
In his free time, Tomoyuki enjoys sports (baseball, futsal, etc.), motorcycle, and traveling.

Takumi joined Sugata Research after 2.5 years with a travel agency in Tokyo. He developed interest in marketing through interactions with marketing professionals at his previous workplace and decided to take on a new challenge in the marketing research industry.
In his free time, Takumi enjoys a range of outdoor activities including camping and motorcycling. His latest passion is collecting American goods.

Sayaka joined Sugata Research after working in administrations of an academic research institution. As a recruit coordinator mainly responsible for recruitment of physicians, she continues to develop her marketing research and recruiting skills in medical fields.
In her free time, Sayaka enjoys picnicking, dining out to find good restaurants, visiting bookstores, and knitting.

With a long professional career in a completely different industry, Ms. Hirai joined Sugata Research to deliver true voices of consumers and support clients address various issues. She is strongly committed to learning new skills and experiences through daily operations and working closely with clients and consumers.
In her free time, she enjoys gardening and the refreshing taste of seasonal vegetables.

With 8 years of professional sales career in a general trading company, Kwihwa joined Sugata Research as a coordinator focusing on B2C projects. She is dedicated to repidly developing skills in marketing research to deliver higher quality coordinator services.
Her latest passion is browsing user posts on social media about educational toys.

Kumiko joined Sugata Research after a career in sales administration and accounting at an electronics manufacturer. She currently manages a wide range of back-office tasks, from accounting procedures to general affairs, to facilitate smooth operations at Sugata Research. On her days off, Kumiko enjoys visiting museums, attending concerts and watching movies.

Satoru joined Sugata Research after working for an advertising agency. With 4 years of experience at Sugata as a researcher, he is now focused on operation support responsibilities to maintain and enhance performance of the company and our employees.
With strong interest in PC gadgets, Satoru's latest passion is customizing telework environments.