My name is Jin Yoshikawa.

I was born in Tokyo, Japan, in 1987. My dad is from Nara and my mom from Tokyo.

When I was two, my family moved to New York for my dad’s work. I grew up in Armonk, NY, until age 15. Then, we moved back to Tokyo. I finished high school at the American School in Japan.

I returned to New York for college. I studied computer science with a concentration in artificial intelligence at Columbia University. One of my favorite projects in college was building a low-cost signature recognition system with a webcam. I also served as the treasurer of the Columbia Japan Society.

After obtaining my Bachelor of Science, I worked at the Tokyo branch of Bain & Company. I mostly worked for an American client in the still-burgeoning smartphone industry of Japan, forecasting risk, analyzing customer satisfaction, and looking for opportunities to optimize costs.

In 2011, I returned to the United States. I briefly worked with a boutique film company led by producer Chiemi Karasawa called Isotope Films, on several projects including Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me. I also helped with the translation of the ESPN animated film, the Shining Star of Losers Everywhere.

For five years, I worked for TK Digital, a Japanese-American film production company based in Brooklyn. During this time, I managed TV and commercial shoots that took me across the country from the coast of Juneau, Alaska, to the shimmering white salt flats of Utah, and to the swamps of Miami’s everglades.

In 2016, I left TK Digital to work independently. I worked on two nature documentaries, one on “the worst weather on Earth” and one on the “dancing bird,” the American woodcock, for Japan’s public TV station.

Wanting to embark on a new adventure that would build on all my past experiences, I decided to go to law school and start a career in legal services. I moved to Nashville, Tennessee, and received my law degree from Vanderbilt University.

During law school, I was a summer associate at the law firms Butler Snow and Bradley Arant Boult Cummings. I also interned at the Nashville Metropolitan Government Department of Law and the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office.

I was also the editor in chief of the Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment and Technology Law. I volunteered with the law school’s admissions office as an Ambassador, the Shade Tree Clinic as a member of the Medical-Legal Partnership, and the Street Law program of Legal Aid Society of Vanderbilt. I am also a member of Phi Delta Phi.

Since graduating from law school, I have been working for Butler Snow as a defense attorney for doctors, hospitals, and medical device manufacturers. I am a member of the U.S.-Japan Council, Tennessee Asian Pacific American Bar Association, and Nashville Bar Association diversity committee.

My wife is Yurina Yoshikawa, a novelist, essayist, teacher, and writing consultant. We have two sons.

My interests include film, Japanese television, artificial intelligence / machine learning, cooking food, reviewing restaurants, travel, German, French, Chinese, and golf.

If you have any questions about my background, please don’t hesitate to contact me.