1:1 Japanese coaching
Not grammar lessons. 1:1 coaching from a self-taught learner who became a professional translator in Japan. Together we build a learning system that fits your life. Then I help you stay motivated, accountable, and on track for the long haul.
I work with a small number of people at a time. [X] spots open right now
You’ve probably started Japanese before. Maybe more than once. An app streak, a textbook, a few months of flashcards, a tutor for a while. Then work got busy, the streak broke, and coming back felt like starting from zero.
That isn’t a personal failing. It’s the most common way language learning ends.
There’s no shortage of Japanese resources. Most people don’t need another course. They need a plan that fits their real life, and someone who notices when they drift and helps them get going again.
AI is genuinely good at Japanese now. It can translate a document, explain a grammar point, or draft an email in seconds. I use it, and I’ll show you how to use it well.
But AI can’t sit at dinner with your partner’s parents for you. It can’t laugh at a friend’s joke, keep up with a conversation at an izakaya, or talk with your child in the language they hear at school. That kind of connection happens live, in your own voice, in real time. It only comes from Japanese that lives in your own head.
Getting there takes months and years of steady practice. That’s the part I help with.
We talk about why you want Japanese, where you are now, and what’s gotten in the way. If I’m not the right fit, I’ll say so, and point you somewhere better if I can.
We design a routine around your goals, level, and schedule: spaced repetition (SRS) for vocabulary, reading at the right level, immersion you actually enjoy, and AI tools used in ways that help you learn instead of doing it for you. You leave with a written plan and a daily minimum small enough to keep on your worst days.
Two 30-minute calls a month to look at what’s working and change what isn’t, plus chat check-ins between calls. Research on goal tracking backs this up: progress you report to someone else tends to stick better than progress you track privately. (Harkin et al., Psychological Bulletin, 2016)
You’ll have bad weeks. We plan for them in advance, with a simple restart plan, so a missed week doesn’t turn into a missed year.
Signature feature
Textbook dialogues are about someone else’s life: a train station you’ll never visit, a coworker named Tanaka you’ll never meet. It’s hard to care, and hard to remember.
So we do something different. You keep a short journal about your days, in English, Japanese, or a mix. Each month I turn it into custom Japanese audio, made with AI from your own journal. The sentences are about your commute, your family, your hobbies, the things you actually need to say.
It’s made for listening, not studying. Put it on during your commute, a walk, or the washing up. Your hands and eyes stay free, and you pick up Japanese in the context of your own life, whenever your ears are free.
You get a lot of it, and all of it is about you. And you don’t have to learn how to build tracks like this with AI tools yourself. I take care of that part, so your time goes into listening.
pack size, draft: about 4 short tracks a month (j to confirm)
Your journal stays private. I use it only to make your audio. name the AI / text-to-speech tools that see journal text, and how long journals are kept
Hi, I’m Josh.
I started learning Japanese in Malaysia, where I taught myself for about two years before moving here. Then I spent a year at a Japanese language school in Tokyo, mostly to turn what I knew on paper into real, everyday conversation.
A year after that, I was working as a professional translator at a game company, and I spent the years that followed translating professionally for game companies here.
Learning Japanese changed my life. It gave me a good career, a home here, and eventually Japanese citizenship. It gave me a level of income and security I don’t think I could have reached otherwise, and at 33 it let me step back from full-time work.
I’m not telling you this because your path will look like mine. It won’t, and I can’t promise you any particular result. I’m telling you because I know what it’s like to learn this language as an adult, without a classroom for most of the way. I’ve always learned best by building my own system and sticking with it. That’s what I want to help you do.
I’m not a grammar teacher. I’m someone who has done the long climb, who spent years working between Japanese and English for a living, and who will keep you company on yours.
draft prices, from the market research. j to confirm before publishing
$180 for the first 3 months
Paid upfront ($60/month, about ¥9,500). Then $60/month
$330 for the first 3 months
Paid upfront ($110/month). Then $110/month
Not as lessons. I’ll point you to grammar resources that fit your level, help you decide when and how much grammar to study, and help when you get stuck. But our calls are about your system, your progress, and your next steps, not textbook explanations. If you want a grammar teacher, a tutor is a better fit, and one can work alongside this.
No particular level, and complete beginners are welcome. If you’re starting from zero, we’ll build your system from the very first step, so good habits are in place from day one. If you’ve already started, whether that’s a few months on an app or years of on-and-off study, we’ll build on what you have and help you get consistent.
We decide that together. A plan you’ll actually keep beats an ambitious one you won’t. We’ll set a daily minimum small enough for your worst days, and a bigger target for good days.
It depends on you, but usually: an SRS flashcard app like Anki for vocabulary, reading tools like pop-up dictionaries so you can read real Japanese, immersion you enjoy (shows, games, YouTube, podcasts, books), and AI for explanations and practice. I’ll help you set them up, and we’ll drop anything that isn’t earning its place.
No, and it doesn’t need to be. The tracks are made with AI, so now and then a phrase may come out a little off. That’s not the point. The point is volume and relevance: lots of Japanese about your own life, the things you’ll actually say, that you can listen to again and again without extra effort.
You’ll probably fall off at some point. Almost everyone does, and it doesn’t mean you’ve failed or that the system can’t work for you. That’s what the restart plan is for. Message me, and we’ll figure out what got in the way, shrink the plan if we need to, and get you moving again. No guilt, and no starting over from zero.
If you stop showing up during the first three months, nothing is lost. Those months are already yours, so you can jump back in any time before they’re up. Until then, I’ll check in with a gentle nudge once a week, just to keep the door open. If you’d rather I didn’t, tell me and I’ll stop.
The first three months are paid upfront in one payment ($180 founding, $330 standard). It’s a commitment you make to give the system time to work: the first few months are when it settles in, and when most people quit. The payment is there to help you stay committed. After the first three months, billing is monthly and you can stop any time, with no notice needed.
Yes. If you ever feel you want a refund, just ask, and you’ll get it, no questions asked. Partial refunds are fine too: if you’d like a refund for a month you’ve just been billed for, or part of it, just ask. If you don’t want to pay me, I don’t want your money.
I’m based in Japan, and I hold calls between 12:00 and 17:00 JST. That suits you well if you live in Australia or New Zealand, Southeast or East Asia, or Japan itself. If you’re in Europe or the Americas, those hours may be hard for now, so it’s worth a look before you book. Chat check-ins happen whenever suits you, so they work in any time zone.
Use them! I’ll help you use them better. Apps and AI are great tools, but they don’t notice when you’ve quietly stopped. They don’t help you decide what matters at your stage, and they don’t change your plan when your life changes. A person in your corner does. That’s the gap this fills.
If you’re serious about Japanese and tired of starting over, let’s talk. The intro call is free, takes 20 minutes, and comes with no pressure. Whether or not we work together, you’ll leave with a clearer idea of what to do next.
Prefer to write first? Fill in the short application and I’ll get back to you.
[X] spots open right now