I was born and educated in Japan until I finished my bachelor's degree in Kyoto, Japan. After completing my degree, I moved to the U.S., and taught Japanese at universities. I also taught content classes in Japanese to elementary school kids (1st and 5th grades) at a Japanese language school. I also have experience teaching Japanese to high school students in a summer program in Virginia.

After a few years of teaching Japanese, I went back to school to learn more about applied linguistics and teaching. While I was working on my master's degree in TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language) at the University of Idaho, I taught First-Year College Writing courses. After graduating from the University, I taught ESL courses at an intensive English program. Language teaching is what I am always passionate about. I enjoy teaching and developing materials (and fun activities) to help students learn the language and culture.

My teaching is based on student-centered learning. I guide my students to figure out the question they have, methods to solve the question/problem, and answer(s) to the question. My function as a teacher is not to provide the answer, but to help students learn by themselves, so that they can foster their problem-solving and critical thinking skills.

Feel free to contact me if you have questions or/and to schedule a lesson. If you have specific areas you want to cover or resources you could provide, please let me know. I would develop a lesson to meet your specific goals.