History of SARJAM Communications

History of SARJAM Communications, Ltd.

Founded as a sole proprietorship in 1988, SARJAM Communications began as a one-person translation bureau in Portland, Oregon, U.S.A. Offering language translation and interpretation services between Japanese and English, the enterprise quickly outgrew its home office. Owner Seth A. Reames, himself an accomplished translator and interpreter, subsequently incorporated SARJAM Communications, Ltd., on January 1, 1989, and opened a small office on Woodstock Boulevard in southeast Portland. The business grew steadily, as local clientele from traditional agriculture and forestry sectors as well as a growing high-tech sector increased their trade and relations with Japan. Over the course of its first year in business, SARJAM expanded its language services to include French, Chinese, and Korean. In addition, the company began brokering typesetting services for these languages.

In 1993, SARJAM moved to the Hollywood District in northeast Portland, and doubled its office quarters. With room to grow, the business flourished when the company added a typesetting department. Starting from English language original material, SARJAM was now producing pre-press materials in foreign languages. Printing companies and printer services around Portland came to rely on SARJAM for a variety of foreign language output.

As president, Seth A. Reames continued to manage the documentation business while growing the company's interpretation agency. Through extended business with video revenue-sharing pioneer Rentrak Corporation and DBS pioneer DIRECTV (a unit of Hughes Electronics), Reames became well acquainted with the home entertainment industry, including major Hollywood studios and Japanese program suppliers. The DIRECTV Japan support effort became a pivotal project: Reames gradually found his personal business base shifting. At the same time, the World Wide Web had begun to change the dynamics of documentation and publishing.

Beginning in 1997 Reames took an active role in senior management communications at DIRECTV Japan, and supported key JV partner Culture Convenience Club in its overseas business relations. In February 1998, SARJAM sold its documentation and pre-press business, and became a specialized translation, interpretation, and consulting firm to the entertainment industry.

In 1999, SARJAM established a pilot publishing project. Sensing a need for timely delivery of Japanese satellite industry news in English, SARJAMIN launched SAT TV Japan, a semi-monthly newsletter. After producing the newsletter on a trial basis for several months, Reames began subscription sales. The newsletter subsequently enlarged focus to cover cable and broadband internet, such that "screen media convergence" became the new theme. In May 2000, the newsletter became SAT-NET-CABLE Japan.

As the century turned, the digital television offerings in Japan diversified, and broadband internet, including wireless internet, emerged as a definite solution. Consequently, Reames found himself more and more involved in projects that spanned various media, and accepted a role in 2001 to assist HI Corporation of Japan in marketing its wireless middleware technology to international customers. The marketing work provided a firsthand opportunity to learn about the mobile telecommunications industry worldwide in terms of the various market differences, the leading carriers and operators, as well as the key handset manufacturers. Japan leads the world in level of sophistication and variety of mobile telecom applications, services, and handset features.

Today SARJAM continues to provide specialized translation, interpretation, and consulting services to entertainment and broadband industries. SAT-NET-CABLE Japan is entering its sixth year of publication.