"What I love about Japanese language schools is being able to learn and have fun alongside students from so many different countries."

Q: What made you decide to become a Japanese language teacher, or to work at a Japanese language school?

During high school, I experienced living abroad through an exchange program, and that led me to develop a desire to "do work connected to the world beyond Japan." After graduating from university, I worked at a travel company specializing in Europe, but most of the job involved communicating by email, and I felt I wanted to engage with people from other countries more directly.
When I took part in Japanese language education volunteering, I really felt the joy of connecting with people from other countries through Japanese, and that experience is what led me to choose the path of becoming a Japanese language teacher.

Q: What moments bring you joy or make teaching Japanese feel fun?

When I see a student who started from hiragana happily chatting in Japanese with classmates, I find myself quietly cheering, "Yes!" inside. And when students tell me after class that it was "fun" or "easy to understand," that makes me truly happy.

Q: Do you have any memorable episodes involving students?

A student who graduated and went on to their desired university came back to ISI's Career EXPO as a senior mentor. Watching them happily give advice to junior students about further education, I felt how much they had grown.
Even though time had passed since graduation, having them come back to ISI like that, and hearing them say "I'm glad I studied at ISI," made me truly happy.

Q: What do you value most in your classes?

In class, I try to create an atmosphere where students can speak actively without worrying about making mistakes. It's fine to make mistakes. I believe conversational ability grows more and more the more students speak.

Q: What's the atmosphere like in your class or workplace?

I teach both beginner and advanced-level classes.
In the beginner class, laughter is always breaking out during lessons, and it's a bright classroom full of smiles. Everyone uses the grammar they've learned to do interviews and give speeches with each other.
In the advanced class, students discuss a wide range of topics in Japanese, from social issues to dramas, anime, and job hunting. The students often know more about these topics than I do, so it's a fun class where we both get new discoveries and inspiration from each other.

Q: What do you feel is the appeal of ISI Japanese Language School?

I think the biggest appeal is having students of so many different nationalities. Students with a wide variety of backgrounds come together, sharing their cultures with each other as they learn happily. Even during class, there are discoveries that only happen because of this multinational mix, and the classroom is always bright and lively.

Q: Please share a message for students who will be coming to study abroad in Japan.

I'm so happy that all of you are interested in Japan. Japanese uses three writing systems, hiragana, katakana, and kanji, so it may feel difficult. But it's okay. Let's study together, one step at a time. I'll do my best too, so that each of you can achieve what you want to do in Japan.
I'm looking forward to meeting all of you in Japan.