"I have an N1-level JLPT certificate and a degree in East Asian Studies from University of Maryland, and have been teaching for 12+ years. I am based on the East Coast of the USA and share a studio at the GoggleWorks Center for the Arts with my father Alan.

I work with students of all ages, from middle school through adult! As someone who also learned Japanese as a second and not as my first language, I can help you find the study methods and approaches that work best for you. I aim to assist students in both understanding and communicating with confidence.

My lesson plans are completely personalized to the interests and goals of each student. I also offer group rates for 2 or more students, and specialized tutoring for test prep (JLPT, IB Japanese, AP Japanese, TOEFL, and 英検).

In addition to tutoring, I additionally work as a travel planner / guide for folks planning vacations in Japan.

I teach practical Japanese in combination with "textbook" Japanese -- I think a solid, traditional grammatical foundation is very important, but tying it in with real-world language use and examples from a variety of print and online media is important as well. What I teach also depends on what you need to know (for example, are you preparing for Japanese classes in college and want to be ready to ace tests in a particular curriculum, or are you hoping to travel to Japan for vacation and need basic conversational skills?). I like to switch up non-textbook materials based on student interests (gaming, authors, comics, travel, zoology, history, linguistics, etc!).

I also teach art - I have two decades experience with drawing traditionally and digitally (Photoshop, Procreate, etc), and can work with students on a variety of styles from realism to cartoons/anime. I am also able to give some guidance in the basics of using Blender for 3D modeling.

I schedule flexibly based on your budget, availability, and goals - anywhere from twice a week to once a month with assignments.

Contact me if you have any questions!" less...