Megumi Kamizono, a Japanese-Brazilian interpreter who works for one of Japan's top volleyball teams, is hoping the national team qualifies for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, seeing the event as an opportunity for her two cultures to connect.

Kamizono, 43, was born in Sao Paulo to her father Iwao, 78, a second-generation Brazilian Japanese, and mother, Kazuko, 70, who migrated to Brazil from Kagoshima Prefecture.

After Brazil won the gold medal in men's volleyball at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, Kamizono, a university student at the time, was attracted to the sport. When the Japanese national team later visited Brazil, Kamizono served as an interpreter for them.