Hi! I'm Karuna, a bilingual Tokyo-born educator. I received my B.A. from Cornell University and my Master's from Tokyo University of the Arts, where I also worked as a TA/Research Assistant. I’ve also worked as a Curatorial Assistant to a Japanese museum director and as a Japanese-to-English translator. 📍 Currently I split my time between California, Japan, and various other destinations.
🍥 MORE ABOUT ME 🍥
I enjoy architecture, design, history, cooking, and most things “Showa retro.” Also currently trying to in study (I use the term loosely) basic linguistics and etymology. When I'm not teaching Japanese, I myself am (slowly, arduously) learning Serbo-Croatian!
내 창작 콘텐츠
지도 경험
Express yourself with cultural cognizance while staying true to your authentic self 🎋🏮 I focus on facilitating your voice, i.e. student-generated output. This will include journaling/writing assignments and structured speaking challenges, as well as more free-form conversations for upper-beginner+ students who so desire.
Above all, our lessons together will be compassionate to both the cultural and linguistic standpoints of a non-native learner.
Japanese is a complex but also incredibly flexible language: I can equip you with the most efficient conversational “tricks” that natives use in everyday communication — but won’t skimp on important foundational grammar, either.
내 강의 및 지도 스타일
My lessons are best for adult students ranging from beginners to intermediate learners (Levels N5, N4, N3). I'll default to Genki I and Genki II for grammar homework — but by no means exclusively, if you prefer another resource. Please note I do not teach children!
Some of my resources for students include:
🕯 Effective self-study tools, quizzes, and flashcard optimization strategies, so that our one-on-one time can focus on the things you *can't* so easily teach yourself
🕯 Small, manageable semi-improvisational speaking challenges to get talking as early as possible in a comfortable setting
🕯 Journaling & writing prompts
내 수업 자료
PDF 파일
텍스트 문서
이미지 파일
비디오 파일
플래시카드
퀴즈
테스트 템플릿 및 예제
숙제
학력
2012 - 2016
학사 - Government, FilmCornell University
2018 - 2020
석사 - Arts Studies & Curatorial PracticesTokyo University of the Arts (東京芸術大学)
경력
2016 - 현재
Freelance Travel & Culture Writer--
2018 - 2019
Gallery AssociateClear Gallery Tokyo
5.0
등급
108
학생
947
수업
100%
출결
100%
응답률
5.0
등급
108
학생
947
수업
100%
출결
100%
응답률
일본어 강의
시범 수업
83개 강의 완료됨
USD 7.00+
Japanese for N5, N4, N3 Learners 🕯️ 40 min or 55 min
A1 - B2일반703개 강의 완료됨
USD 35.00+
패키지(5% 할인가)
Japanese Conversation Session 🎋🏮 40 min or 55 min
A2 - C2회화 연습161개 강의 완료됨
USD 35.00+
패키지(5% 할인가)
수업 가능한 시간
회원님의 시간대 기준 (UTC+00:00)
내 창작 콘텐츠
퀴즈 (5)
25개의 평가
Jeremy
11개의 일본어 강의
강사님의 선택
Lessons with Karuna are always a pleasure. She is calm, patient, and looks for ways to draw out your strengths so you pay less attention to your flaws. She has a wealth of resources to help you study and assigns homework that gets you thinking outside of the regular book work.
Karuna engages with you in a very casual conversational manner that helps you relax and she actively listens to try to understand what you are saying. I never feel like she is distracted or inattentive during my lessons with her. Since I am very nervous when it comes to speaking, there are often awkward pauses that Karuna adeptly fills in with questions or her own insights to keep the conversation going.
I highly recommend Karuna if you are beginning Japanese or if you just need somebody to help you with speaking practice. She gives good travel suggestions too!
2024년 10월 24일
T.L. Langford
2개의 일본어 강의
Karuna gave a great presentation in the first lesson of how she teaches, what texts she uses, and she answered all my questions. Very prepared. Looking forward to working with her.
2025년 12월 2일
Eugene
15개의 일본어 강의
Karuna is an excellent teacher with seeming endless amounts of patience. She is a pleasure to learn with. I highly recommend giving her lessons a shot.
2025년 9월 2일
Brett
42개의 일본어 강의
강사님의 선택
she rocks
2024년 10월 24일
Benjamin
12개의 일본어 강의
Karuna is fantastic! Very encouraging, she is always looking for fun ways to personalize her lessons to keep learning atmosphere entertaining and engaging.
2025년 10월 31일
Cameron Donner
13개의 일본어 강의
I've now taken classes with Karuna for a couple of months, and I would recommend her to everyone who wants to learn Japanese. Each week I feel my language skills and confidence grow; she's an expert at navigating what I need in my lessons, and she always tries her best to draw language out of me, even when I'm not sure of it myself.
On top of that, she always assigns excellent homework material and includes extra resources to ensure that what's talked about during lesson time sticks. However, the best part of learning from Karuna is that I feel I've gained more than just a language instructor. The environment she provides makes it feel like I just get to sit down to chat with a friend who's cheering on my journey each week. It's easy stay positive and focused when you have her in your corner!