Karen Parsons

Journalist & Media Consultant

Karen is a leading UK journalist whose work has been published in every national newspaper. She is a staff writer at the Independent on Sunday, where she writes news, feature and interviews. She was formerly on staff at the Press Association, the UK’s national news agency, where she covered
breaking news on everything from crime and
politics to showbiz and the Royal Family.

Karen has a particular interest in writing about Japan as she lived there for four years between 1996 and 2000. She spent two years in Ogori, Fukuoka, working as an assistant language teacher before moving to Tokyo to study Japanese and then Omiya, Saitama, where she worked for the prefectural government.

On return to the UK, Karen worked for NHK in London for one year as a researcher. She has also written for Mainichi Shinbun. In February 2012, she travelled to Tohoku to write about the sake industry for the Independent on Sunday.

Karen considers Japan to be her second home. She speaks Japanese, has many friends in Japan, and is passionate about building cultural bridges between Japan and the UK. She would like the rest of the world to better understand the wonders of Japanese culture and its unique history.

Karen is a successful blogger and has been shortlisted for several awards for her writing. She also runs her own company Nine Media Training & Consultancy, which advises companies, individuals and charities on their media relations.