Meet the people who make VJLS-JH a great place to be!

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.

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.

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.

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 paddleboarding in her free time.

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.

Yessenia (Yessie) has been with VJLS-JH for the last 9 years. She has been able to develop numerous skills at while at Children’s World. strengthening my values, passion,and work ethics. She is always willing to adapt and learn new techniques that align with her values.

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.

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.

Kiyoko would like to contribute to VJLS through her many years of experience in teaching Japanese to learners of all ages in Japan, the U.S., France, and Canada, in addition to her experience in raising a child. After serving as the head of the VJLS Fundamental department, she was promoted to Principal in May 2021. She has successfully passed the Japanese Language Teaching Competency Test and is also certified as an instructor by the Japan Vocal Reading Association.

In her free time, Kiyoko enjoys dancing and learning Chinese.

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.

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.

Misaki has experience working as a car salesperson in Japan for 5 years and has completed a Japanese Language Teacher Training Course in Canada. This year will be her first year teaching.  She will do her best to make classes fun, and at the same time, be a teacher who can accommodate the various needs of her students. She is also looking forward to learning from VJLS senior teachers.

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.

Hayato has many years of experience teaching Japanese to adults. His goal is to make the classes understandable and enjoyable for the learners.

He likes cooking, YOGA, listening music. Hayato especially enjoy listening to Showa era songs and is also interested in history.

With, “truth should be conveyed with laughter” (-Ordin) in mind, I’m trying to make “difficult things easy, easy things deep, and deep things humorous” (-Hisashi Inoue) in my classes. Takeshi has a license to teach Japanese at the junior and senior high school level. His motto is “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.” -Socrates.

Takeshi enjoys listening to music (classical, jazz, etc.), watching movies (CG not my thing) writing, and playing baseball.

I completed my major in Japanese language education at university. I used to work in the academic curriculum department at a Japanese language school in Tokyo.

In Canada, I teach 0-level beginner to advanced classes, mainly for adults. I teach Japanese in a wide range of ways, such as conversation practice and JLPT exam preparation. I am a Kanji and kana, calligraphy skill test master license holder. My hobbies are reading manga and plarying games. I have two lovely cats.

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.

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.

Takuto majored in Educational Methodology at university and obtained his teaching license. He would like to provide a fruitful time for his students, while valuing his personal relationships with each of them.

Takuto enjoys Kendo, motorcycles, and playing guitar. He enjoys reading and watching anime, watching shows, and exercise.

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.

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.

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.

Tomoka has worked as a teacher for five years in Japan. She aims to provide classes that enable students to improve themselves and find fulfillment in learning Japanese. One of her hobbies is going to concerts.

Yumiko had worked in the education industry for children in Japan for almost 6 years. She also took a Japanese language teacher training course (420 hours) and obtained a qualification to teach.
After coming to Canada, she pursued a course in digital marketing in Vancouver.

In her free time, she enjoys going to hot springs and watching movies. She also likes to visit cozy cafes and go to Karaoke. Additionally, she has a keen interest in fashion, and her favorite Netflix drama is “Emily in Paris.”

Keigo aims to provide a comfortable classroom 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 theater, movies, dancing, and travelling in her free time.

Natsuko is a certified teacher in Japan and worked at high schools for more than 5 years. She also joined a local volunteer group to support Japanese language learners. She always thinks from the students’ viewpoint and plans her class for a better learning environment. Outside of work, she enjoys making crafts and baking.

Ryo obtained his teaching licenses for elementary school, junior high school mathematics, and high school mathematics. He provided support for local mathematics education in Honduras as part of the JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency).

In Japan, he taught mathematics at a private high school in Kanagawa Prefecture.

During his university student years, he gained experience as a private tutor and at a cram school His hobbies include cooking, watching movies, and appreciating music. He enjoys not only listening to piano music but also playing it.

During university, Yumi specialized in linguistics and focused on teaching methods for ethnically diverse, foreign-born children in Japan. She acquired her licenses to teach English and Tagalog for middle and high school after completing an education program.

She studied abroad in Vancouver, Seattle, and Manila, excelling as an overseas sales representative for a chemical company in Japan.

She implements engaging, student-centric classes with a multifaceted approach. Her hobbies include attending live events, watching dramas, sharing outfit ideas, and listening to the radio.

Misato has a teaching license for junior high school and high school. In Japan, she worked for a travel agency and then as an English teacher at a junior high school.

Teaching is a rewarding job for her, and her motto is to teach students in an easy way. After coming to Canada, she took a course in Business and Management in Vancouver.

She likes singing, travelling, and reading.

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 boardgames with friends on weekends and during the holidays. He’s not a big fan of outdoor activities, but occassionally enjoys 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.

Misaki has experience working as a car salesperson in Japan for 5 years and has completed a Japanese Language Teacher Training Course in Canada. This year will be her first year teaching.  She will do her best to make classes fun, and at the same time, be a teacher who can accommodate the various needs of her students. She is also looking forward to learning from VJLS senior teachers.

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.