臨床心理士 · Clinical Psychologist · Japan
Between cultures, there is still a place to be yourself.
I'm Sumire Sato — a clinical psychologist trained in Japan, working online with people living between languages, countries and expectations.
The through-line
I help individuals, communities and organisations create environments where people feel psychologically safe enough to be themselves.
Adolescents in Japan, refugees resettling in Europe, women in restrictive cultures, executives on their fourth relocation — the population changes, the work does not. I help people find their way back to trusting what they feel.
Who I work with
Therapy for people who live in more than one world.
Your English is fluent. That isn't the same as your grief being fluent in English.
When you live between languages you aren't only translating words, you're translating yourself. Working in the language your feelings actually live in is often the whole of it.
Foreigners living in Japan
You need a therapist who doesn't need Japan explained to them — someone who understands the culture you're navigating from the inside, and the exhaustion of decoding it every day.
Asians living abroad
Family duty, indirect communication, the weight of not disappointing anyone. You shouldn't have to translate your cultural values before you can talk about how you feel.
Women in restrictive environments
For women living where expression is constrained — in parts of Asia, in conservative or religious communities — a confidential space to speak freely, feel safely, and imagine more room.
Sessions & fees
Clear pricing, no waiting list.
All prices in USD. Submit a request and Sumire will personally confirm a time with you.
Trial call
$100
Single session
$350
Four sessions
$1,330
Six sessions
$1,995
Ways to work together
One practice, five doors.
Therapy
Confidential online sessions in English or Japanese, for individuals living across cultures. CBT, IFS, ACT and Narrative Therapy, adapted to your cultural context rather than the other way round.
Request therapySpeaking & workshops
Keynotes and practitioner training on cultural grief, burnout prevention, psychological safety, and supporting international employees — for organisations, universities, conferences and NGOs.
See topicsConsulting
Organisational mental health strategy, trauma-informed programme design, cross-cultural consultation, and clinical supervision for therapists working with international clients.
Explore consultingResearch & writing
Cross-cultural psychology, cultural grief, identity and belonging, refugee mental health. Open to international research collaborations, guest lectures and interdisciplinary projects.
Read the workMedia & interviews
Available for podcasts, television, radio, print and documentary work — expert commentary on Japanese mental health, cross-cultural psychology, women's mental health, trauma, refugee mental health and global work culture.
Open the press kit
Approach
The framework should bend, not the client.
Most frameworks assume a self shaped inside one culture. When a client's context falls outside that, forcing the fit can quietly do harm.
I trained inside Japan's clinical psychology system, then spent a decade adapting those frameworks to the person in front of me — across five continents.
International experience
Learned in the places, not about them.
Across these countries I've learned from and worked alongside professionals in refugee support, immigrant services, family support centres, addiction services, youth work, psychotherapy, social welfare, gender equality and community mental health.
- Japan
- Italy
- Spain
- Palau
- United States
- Germany
- Switzerland
- Austria
- France
- Belgium
- Luxembourg
- Netherlands
- Nepal
- Rwanda
- United Kingdom
- Philippines
- Hong Kong
- Macau
- South Korea
- Vietnam
- New Zealand
- Denmark
- Georgia
- Armenia
- Azerbaijan
- Türkiye
- Croatia
- Canada
- Greece
- Egypt
- Morocco
- Saudi Arabia
- Czech Republic
- Portugal
- Finland
- Russia
- Norway
- Sweden
Writing
Insights
I write regularly about cultural grief, identity, and what it costs to live between languages. Reading a few pieces is the easiest way to know whether we'd work well together.
- On cultural grief — the mourning that has no funeral, and why it isn't depression.
- The language your feelings live in — what changes when you talk about pain in a second language.
- Leaving the rails — on a life that didn't follow the track it was supposed to.
Latest essays at medium.com/@SumireSuuSato
Practising from wherever the work is.
Next step
Whether it's one hour or an entire organisation — start here.
Book a therapy session, or tell me about the work you have in mind. I read every message myself.