Hi! I'm Karuna, a Tokyo-born and U.S.-raised educator. Once upon a time, 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.📍 Currently I split my time between California, Japan, and various other destinations.
🍥 MORE ABOUT ME 🍥
I enjoy architecture, design, cooking, long train trips, armchair linguistics, social history, and slow/intentional travel. When I'm not teaching Japanese, I myself am learning Serbo-Croatian and slowly dipping my toes into Ulster Irish!
내 창작 콘텐츠
지도 경험
Inconvenient truth: you don't always need a tutor. Much of Japanese is self-teachable. But I'm here for the curious, the ambitious, and the hardworking: for anyone who REALLY wants to put their active conversation skills to the test.
Above all, our lessons together will be compassionate to both the cultural and linguistic standpoints of a non-native learner.
I focus on facilitating your voice, and my goal with every student is enabling authentic self-expression. To that end, you can expect structured speaking challenges as well as more free-form conversations for upper-beginner+ students who so desire.
내 강의 및 지도 스타일
My lessons are best for adult students ranging from total beginners to intermediate learners (Levels N5, N4, N3). I'll default to Genki I and Genki II for a general trajectory/roadmap — but by no means exclusively, especially at intermediate levels. Please note I do not teach children under 18!
Some of my resources for students include:
🕯 Effective self-study tools, quizzes, and 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
120
학생
1,158
수업
100%
출결
100%
응답률
5.0
등급
120
학생
1158
수업
100%
출결
100%
응답률
일본어 강의
시범 수업
94개 강의 완료됨
USD 14.00+
Japanese for N5, N4, N3 Learners 🕯️ 40 min or 55 min
A1 - B2일반842개 강의 완료됨
USD 45.00+
패키지(4% 할인가)
Japanese Conversation Session 🎋🏮 40 min or 55 min
A2 - C2회화 연습222개 강의 완료됨
USD 45.00+
패키지(4% 할인가)
수업 가능한 시간
내 창작 콘텐츠
퀴즈 (5)
26개의 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
Cathy
7개의 일본어 강의
It was really great because I could create my own sentences and I always have opportunities to speak.
2026년 2월 26일
Benjamin
16개의 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
Brett
42개의 일본어 강의
강사님의 선택
she rocks
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
16개의 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.