Sayoko Arai, a pioneer in the field of simultaneous interpretation, died Wednesday of the cirrhosis of the liver in Tokyo, her family said Thursday. She was 75.
A graduate of Sacred Heart University, Arai studied in Paris and New York and briefly worked with the Japanese delegation to the U.N.
She was known as a leading simultaneous interpreter, as well as a crusader for women's volunteer activities and the author of several books.
In 1988, she set up the Tokyo Forum, a group of housewives who extend help to needy people at home and abroad.
She also served as a vice president of International Social Service Japan, and of the central committee of the National Federation of UNESCO Associations in Japan.
Her funeral will be held at 1:30 p.m. Monday at St. Ignatius Catholic Church, near JR Yotsuya Station in Tokyo, with the chief mourner to be her husband, Tadahiko.