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.
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
75
학생
510
수업
99%
출결
100%
응답률
5.0
등급
75
학생
510
수업
99%
출결
100%
응답률
일본어 강의
시범 수업
56개 강의 완료됨
USD 7.00+
Japanese for N5, N4, N3 Learners 🕯️ 40 min or 55 min
A1 - B2일반399개 강의 완료됨
USD 35.00+
패키지(5% 할인가)
Japanese Conversation Session 🎋🏮 40 min or 55 min
A2 - C2회화 연습55개 강의 완료됨
USD 35.00+
패키지(5% 할인가)
수업 가능한 시간
회원님의 시간대 기준 (UTC+00:00)
내 창작 콘텐츠
퀴즈 (5)
19개의 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
Cameron Donner
2개의 일본어 강의
Karuna did an excellent job in our first lesson of evaluating my needs and finding ways to involve me even with very little experience and a long hiatus away from Japanese. She's a calm presence and an effective communicator capable of making you feel at ease when you're uncertain of how to progress and gives helpful nudges to push you forward. She also provided several resources and homework exercises to me in order to prepare for our next lesson. I would recommend her to anyone seeking to grow their Japanese language skills. You won't regret it!
2025년 6월 10일
Shruthi
14개의 일본어 강의
Karuna is an amazing teacher!! Always learn so much each lesson!
2025년 5월 4일
Brett
41개의 일본어 강의
강사님의 선택
she rocks
2024년 10월 24일
zack
10개의 일본어 강의
Two months into my adventure learning Japanese with かるなせんせい and I have gone from not knowing their characters to forming simple sentences and understanding the structure. Her guides and applications are amazing for repetition and she always makes sure to play to my strengths and is very encouraging during it.
2025년 5월 9일
zack
10개의 일본어 강의
One month into learning Japanese with Karuna and I can tell how far I've come. Just a month ago I could barely recognize a Hiragana character and now I'm able to write and understand simple sentences in Japanese. Karuna is an amazing teacher with a wealth of knowledge who has made learning Japanese fun and exciting. 10/10, I 100% recommend taking her class. I look forward to seeing how far I'll have come in another month!