English teacher, Tokyo recruiter, product manager — all of it in Japanese.

Ten-plus years now. I am still here, still working in Japanese, and now teaching the language I grew up with to the people I have spent my career alongside.

Years in Japan: 10+
JLPT certified: N1
Every session, never a group: 1-on-1

The JET years

I arrived as an assistant language teacher on the JET Programme in Gunma Prefecture, 2016. I stood in front of classrooms full of students who could diagram a sentence perfectly on a worksheet and then go silent the moment I asked them a real question in English. That gap — between knowing English and using it — is the thing I have been working on ever since.

Then I got a job in Japanese

After JET I moved to Tokyo — recruiting across tech, financial services, and consulting industries, then into product management at a major Japanese tech company, and now in product management at a global consumer company. Meetings that ran long, keigo emails I rewrote four times, negotiations where I was the one whose second language was on the line. I spent years being the person in the room doing the hard thing you are doing now, just in the other direction.

JLPT N1

I passed JLPT N1 in 2021. The certificate matters less than what it stands for: I have made every mistake you are about to make. When an explanation is not landing in English, I can switch to Japanese, unstick it, and get us straight back.

Why I coach

I coach because I know exactly what it feels like to be afraid to speak in a second language — first as the learner, then as a recruiter watching candidates freeze in interviews, and now doing the job myself in Japanese every day. Those three angles are why I can spot what is actually wrong, not just what sounds wrong. I want every student to leave not knowing more English, but trusting the English they already have.

A result I'm proud of

One of my students, from a small town in Gunma, won her local speech competition, then the prefectural round, then went all the way to the national English speech competition — where she met the Emperor. Public speaking under pressure, in a second language, is exactly what I coach. That result is how I know it's possible.

I am no longer an English teacher. I'm someone who did what you're trying to do, in reverse — and I know which few things actually made the difference.

What I am, and what I am not

A native English speaker who has worked inside Japanese professional settings for years.
Bilingual, JLPT N1 — so I can explain in Japanese when English is not landing.
Not a certified TEFL or CELTA instructor, and not running an accredited curriculum.
What I offer is practice with someone who has already done the thing you are trying to do.

The easiest way to find out if this works is to talk.

A free 30-minute call. We will speak English, I will listen to where you get stuck, and I will tell you honestly whether I can help.

Book a free 30-min discovery call

30 minutes, free, no obligation.