children’s
WORLD
Megumi has over 20 years of experience in the ECE field in both Canada and Japan. she values her learning and experiences with children and having a good time. She also hopes to share in the joy of the children’s growth together with their parents.
Megumi likes hiking, easy DIY, collecting children’s books, natural dyeing, tea ceremony and driving.
Mitsuru has been working at Children’s World for last 23 years with pride and joy. She has been inspired by children’s imaginations since she began teaching in Japan. She values each child’s sense of creativity and unique abilities.
Mitsuru loves to garden and watch medical dramas. She also loved to read medical stories from the point of the perspective of the doctor.
Natalie has been working with children since 2019 and started working at Children’s World in the summer of 2020. She is a certified Early Childhood Educator and Special Needs Educator. Before pursuing her career in child care, she worked in a range of different industries which helped build upon her interpersonal skills, workflow, creativity, and teamwork skills. She believes every child is unique and it’s important to learn their individual needs.
Natalie enjoys spending time with her family and friends. Her hobbies include watching movies, reading, and crocheting.
Akiko has experience in family drop-in and child minding within family centres and neighbourhood houses, including strong start for 2 years, ready, set, learn, and a mother goose program. She has been working at Children’s World for 10 years and am currently taking the ECE certificate course. By going back to school, she’s learning useful, current methods and theories to apply to her real-life work. Akiko loves to support children’s learning and development.
She likes to observe different kinds of gems, minerals, and stones.
Miyuki tries to provide childcare that allows children to have fun and enjoy in their activities without worries, improve their self-esteem and consideration for others.
Miyuki likes to bake, garden, and watch sports.
Mika worked as a kindergarten teacher in Japan for 7 years. She would like to use the experience I gained there while enjoying time spent with children while incorporating Japanese culture.
Mika likes to do her nails, explore new cafes, and eat good food.
Ryoko has 10 years of childcare experience as an ECE in Japan, Bolivia, and Spain. She joined Children’s World in March 2022 and has since learned a lot from both the children and her colleagues. She aims to be an educator who empathizes with the children, listens to the children’s voices, and helps them enjoy and relax while at Children’s World.
Ryoko likes playing musical instruments, baking, and learning English and Spanish.
Rika has worked as a childcare teacher in Japan for 10 years. Using her experience and knowledge, she strives to help children enjoy their time in a relaxed and fun environment while valuing each child’s individuality.
Rika loves travelling and watching movies.
Miyuki has a Junior and high school teacher’s license. She started Japanese classical dance at the age of five and has performed as accredited master. She would like her students to learn the Japanese language and culture as well as etiquette – she tries to include those elements into her classes so that students can experience them while having fun.
Miyuki has an 8th Dan in hard brush and plays Koto. She has a loud voice. Before the pandemic, she used to do hot yoga 5 times a week at yoga studio but now she enjoys it at home every day.
Kotoe loves children. She is proud of her job and finds it very rewarding. She strives to provide childcare that is nurturing and caring towards each child.
Kotoe enjoys hiking, walking, and stand up paddle-boarding in her free time.
Yuki has 15 years of childcare experience in Japan, working as a public kindergarten teacher in his home prefecture of Shiga, and an educator for a Nature Kindergarten in Nagano. He came to Vancouver in late July 2024 to fulfill his childhood dream of living abroad. He’s eager to explore the new life and challenges in this new environment.
Yuki loves music. He sings and plays the guitar. During his time at the Nature Kindergarten, he created more than 10 songs with the children. He finds the time spent singing with children his happiest moment. He always keeps an ear out for anything music related ー live music, concerts or music production.
With both a Kindergarten Teacher’s First Class Certificate and an Elementary School Teacher’s First Class Certificate, Yumi brings a wealth of experience to our school community. Having served at a public elementary school in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan for four years, she possesses a deep understanding of pedagogy and child development.
Beyond her teaching role, Yumi is also a talented pop music composer, enriching our school environment with her creative pursuits. In her free time, she enjoys exploring various genres of music and engaging with the online world.
JAPANESE
LANGUAGE SCHOOL
Licensed to teach junior high and high school, Naoko has 12 years experience planning and editing magazines in Japan and has been working for a Japanese newspaper company in Canada for many years. It’s been 20 years since she started teaching Japanese for all ages from children to adult at VJLS.
In her free time, she is into collecting general education information. She likes watching figure skating and cooking for people. She is interested in writing tanka, haiku, and poetry. She has a 5th Dan in calligraphy and belongs to a chorus group.
Ayumi is a certified kindergarten and daycare teacher, and has been working with children for 20 years in Japan, U.S., and Canada. She aims to provide enriching classes by incorporating a lot of traditional Japanese culture.
Ayumi likes swimming and baking sweets. She also likes making crafts and thinking ctaft ideas for each of the four seasons.
Hayato has many years of experience teaching Japanese to adults. His goal is to make classes understandable and enjoyable for all learners.
He likes cooking, yoga and listening to music. Hayato especially enjoys Showa era songs and is also interested in history.
Kiyoko contributes to VJLS through her many years of experience in teaching Japanese to learners of all ages in Japan, the U.S., France, and Canada. She excels in clear grammatical analysis and phonetic instruction. Former principal of VJLS. Holder of a Japanese language teaching certification. Certified instructor by the Japan Vocal Reading Association. Dyslexia assessor.
In her free time, Kiyoko enjoys dancing and learning Chinese.
Yuki completed her major in Japanese language education at university. She used to work in the academic curriculum department at a Japanese language school in Tokyo.
In Canada, Yuki teaches 0-level beginner to advanced classes, mainly for adults. She teaches Japanese in a wide range of ways, such as conversation practice and JLPT exam preparation. She is also a Kanji and Kana Calligraphy Skill Test Master license holder. Her hobbies are reading manga and plarying games. She also has two lovely cats.
Naoyori has a teacher’s license for junior high and high school. He has experience working at a tutoring school in Japan. He is committed to motivating students first and then helping them achieve their goals.
Naoyori likes skiing, reading Manga, and watching Anime.
After working in Japan, Motomi obtained her Japanese language teaching certification and has been teaching Japanese to working adults both in Japan and Canada. In Canada, she is involved in Japanese language education for children. From her experience as a recruiter, she especially enjoys teaching business Japanese. She tries to create lessons that convey not only the expressions in textbooks, but also the real-life Japanese that changes with the times.
Motomi likes traveling and cooking. She loves the ocean so she enjoys playing beach volleyball during the summer time. She is obsessed with learning web design and hopes to create a language app in the future.
Keiko specializes in sociology and enjoys research and data analysis. When she started teaching Japanese at university in Canada, she obtained a certificate of Teaching in Higher Education, where she studied curriculum, evaluation methods, and syllabus development.
Keiko likes skiing, skating, and listening to J-pop. She also designs containers for gardens.
Keigo aims to create a welcoming classroom environment so that students can enjoy learning and have a great experience.
He is a big fan of Japanese samurai-era history. His favourite samurai is Sanada Masayuki from his home prefecture Nagano. He also likes comedy.
Kazuna is a qualified middle and high school teacher. She also has two years’ experience teaching at an elementary school. In Vancouver, she is pursuing to become a certified Early Childhood Educator (ECE). She aims to teach children to broaden their horizons through Japanese language education.
Kazuna enjoys watching plays at the theatre, movies, dancing, and travelling in her free time.
Akira studied Plant Biology at UBC. He hopes that he can help students feel more welcome in the classroom. He has played the trombone for 12 years and plays music in a marching band. He also sang in an a cappella group at UBC for 4 years. Akira’s favourite food is bánh mì. He enjoys playing board games and reading books about history in his spare time.
Chinatsu holds a teaching license for junior high school. She has experience working as a sales administrative assistant in Japan. After moving to Vancouver, she volunteered with organizations that support school communities. She is committed to creating engaging classes that students will look forward to attending and enjoy. Chinatsu is also eager to learn from the senior teachers at VJLS.
Chinatsu enjoys reading books and traveling. She is a big fan of Anne of Green Gables and hopes to visit Prince Edward Island in Eastern Canada, where the story is set.
Leveraging her experience teaching Japanese in Germany and Japan, Saki works at VJLS as a bridge for intercultural understanding. During university, including her time studying abroad in Germany, she was a member of the Kyudo (Japanese archery) club.
Saki has been involved in the IT industry, handling everything from advertising to infrastructure.
Her hobbies include fitness training and cycling.
With both a Kindergarten Teacher’s First Class Certificate and an Elementary School Teacher’s First Class Certificate, Yumi brings a wealth of experience to our school community. Having served at a public elementary school in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan for four years, she possesses a deep understanding of pedagogy and child development.
Beyond her teaching role, Yumi is also a talented pop music composer, enriching our school environment with her creative pursuits. In her free time, she enjoys exploring various genres of music and engaging with the online world.
Tomoe holds a kindergarten teacher license, nursery school teacher license, special support teacher license, and has passed the Japanese Sign Language Proficiency Test – Level 5. She has three years of experience teaching at a daycare and a year of experience working at a facility for the disabled. She values her relationships with each child and strives to make learning a fun experience.
Her hobby is visiting hand clothing stores. When she finds something cute, she does a fashion show at home.
Additionally, she is continuously studying sign language at a higher level.
Misaki has six years of experience working in the tourism industry in Osaka and Hokkaido (Niseko). She also worked as a Resident Assistant, supporting exchange students with their studies and daily life in Japan during her university years. Misaki aims to create a classroom where each student receives individual attention.
She enjoys karaoke, watching movies, picnics, travelling, cooking takoyaki, and hair-styling.
Asuka has taught Japanese language in Nagoya, Japan, experiencing classrooms with diverse students form South and South East Asia. He aims to provide a learning environment that every student can think for themselves and enjoy learning. He has completed Japanese Language Teacher Training Course in Japan and passed the Japanese Language Teaching Competency Test in 2020.
He likes listening to and playing music, reading and travelling. With only a single backpack, he travels everywhere. He calls himself an Okinawa otaku (meaning he likes Okinawa so much). Also, he has 1st dan grade in kendo.
Hazuki had worked as a teacher in an elementary school for four years after studying special education at a Japanese University of Education. She values personalized education for each student, providing an environment where everyone can have meaningful experiences through group activities.
Hazuki likes playing volleyball, watching anime, and enjoying seasonal cooking and events.
Japanese Teacher On Leave
Beginning as a part-time worker for elementary students when she was a university student in Japan, Noriko obtained her elementary school teacher’s license and has been teaching for many years. She would like to motivate children to learn Japanese through creating fun classes.
Noriko enjoys finding exciting things for her two sons.
Japanese Teacher On Leave
Shoko’s goal is to support each individual’s interest and learning to expand their own world in Japanese. She has a middle and high school teacher’s license and has completed all the requirements of Japanese Language Teacher Training Course. After working at schools in Japan and abroad, she has been teaching at VJLS since 2016.
Shoko likes picture books and making crafts. Her favourite animal is a bear. She is interested in Latin American culture.
Japanese Teacher On Leave
Shiori has 6 years of experience of teaching Japanese kindergarten and 1 year of experience of working in an international daycare school. She is talented at playing the piano and enjoys singing Japanese songs with children.
Shiori likes traveling and discovering new cafes.
Japanese Teacher On Leave
Miyuki has a Junior and high school teacher’s license. She started Japanese classical dance at the age of five and has performed as accredited master. She would like her students to learn the Japanese language and culture as well as etiquette – she tries to include those elements into her classes so that students can experience them while having fun.
Miyuki has an 8th Dan in hard brush and plays Koto. She has a loud voice. Before the pandemic, she used to do hot yoga 5 times a week at yoga studio but now she enjoys it at home every day.
MANAGEMENT
STAFF
Luke joined VJLS-JH in June of 2018. As Facilities Manager, he is responsible for building related maintenance and projects, rentals and health & safety concerns.
Luke plays badminton regularly on weekday evenings. He enjoys playing board games with friends on weekends and during the holidays. He’s not a big fan of outdoor activities, but would also go hiking in Summer when it’s nice out.
Keiko has been working in the Accounting Field since 2020. She is very happy to help people who are interested in Japan and Japanese culture and to support the Vancouver Downtown Eastside community.
On her days off, she spends time relaxing on the beach and hanging out with her family and friends.
Kazuko has eight years of experience working in the accounting department of a construction company in Japan. Since December 2023, she has been working as an accounting staff member at VJLS, responsible for handling payments.
Her favorite things are coffee, chocolate, and cats. On her days off, she enjoys knitting and sewing.
Yoshi came from Japan in 1996. His twin sons attended VJLS-JH for many years, beginning with the toddler program and ending with one son’s graduation from VJLS Grade 12 in 2023.
He served as a member of the VJLS-JH board of directors from March 2021 to June 2023 and was assigned to become General Manager.
Before working at the school, he was an organic market gardener, incorporating Japanese vegetable varieties. Prior to farming, he worked for several Vancouver firms as a structural engineering technician. He looks forward to returning to farming life someday.