"This is how I make my bread and butter," the 48-year-old says, parroting a Kiwi accent.
Mrs Uchida came to New Zealand in 1993 on a personal mission to research the kakapo and share the story about the endemic species with the Japanese public.
While in Japan, she worked as a radio producer, a publishing editor, and a Tokyo documentary news channel video journalist, where she wrote and translated English text and television scripts into Japanese.
While working for a magazine, she met a photographer who had just been to New Zealand to photograph kakapo.
"He showed me a photo of a kakapo and I thought, wow.
"It was a very striking photo - like a fairytale creature.
"It looked so wise and it had emotion in its eyes.
"I thought New Zealand was just full of sheep."
Her fascination grew as she began researching the bird and, by 1993, the lure of New Zealand was too much to ignore.
She intended to visit, but nearly 20 years later, after writing several articles, a Japanese children's book about the kakapo, and founding the Kakapo Fund which has raised more than $50,000 for the Department of Conservation's kakapo recovery plan, Mrs Uchida is still here.
While researching the bird, she was offered a job at NHNZ, translating Wild South documentaries into Japanese for the Japanese television market.
"I only understood 30%-40% of the English language, but based on my [work] experience, I took the job.
"The challenge started when I got a new job researching for [NHNZ] and NHK - the Japan Broadcasting Corporation - which involved translating Japanese programmes into English and conversing in English with producers.
"I found it difficult to translate my ideas into English. I felt my intelligence level was lowering because of it.
"I still remember the frustrations. I was far from sophisticated.
"It wasn't the everyday language that was difficult. It was the job language - words like marsupials, crustaceans, avian. I only know these things as kangaroos, crabs and birds."
Mrs Uchida said her work colleagues were kind, patient and understanding, but she felt a need to increase her English understanding and vocabulary.
"The more you talk, the more you hear, the better you become.
"The only serious study I did outside of work, came from watching British television comedies.
"I love watching Monty Python, Fawlty Towers, Absolutely Fabulous and Blackadder."
Mrs Uchida said it had been a very gradual process, but her vocabulary has grown to the point where she was able to make more "meaningful and intelligent conversation".
Mrs Uchida is one of hundreds of people who learn to speak English as a second language each year, and all will celebrate Adult Learners Week (September 3-9). An awards ceremony will be held on Thursday at 5.30pm in the Technique Restaurant at Otago Polytechnic, Dunedin.
