Language Center Instructors

All instructors have extensive teaching experience in their particular fields.

• Yuko Aizawa has taught at the Sendagaya Japanese Institute in Tokyo, Japan and at the Royal Hawaiian Academy in the United States. She has been an instructor at the Toyota Language Center since 1994.

• Keiko Hama has taught Japanese in Germany and the US for over ten years. She received her MA in Japanese Sociology and Linguistics at the University of Heidelberg. Since then, she has been an interpreter, translator and Japanese teacher in the private and public sectors.

• Eiko Ishioka has a Master’s Degree in Foreign Language and Literature from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She has been teaching Japanese at several institutions in the United States for five years, most recently at University of Wisconsin at Madison.

• Tomoyo Kamimura earned an MA in Linguistics from the University of Oregon and an MBA from Columbia University. She has taught Japanese at Kalamazoo College, the University of Oregon, and Rutgers University in New Brunswick. She is an Assistant Professor at The New School's Foreign Language Department.

• Kazuko Minamoto has taught Japanese at Baruch College of the City University of New York and at Columbia Preparatory School. She has been teaching at the Toyota Language Center since the fall of 1995, and is currently Assistant Director for the Education program at the Japan Society.

• Mami Miyashita earned a Japanese Teaching License in Japan, a certificate of Teaching Japanese as a Foreign Language from Ohio State University and a Master’s Degree from West Chester University. She has been involved with foreign language education for more than nineteen years, most recently at the University of Delaware from 1999 to 2005.

• Satomi Ochiai has a Bachelor’s Degree from the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies and a Master’s Degree from NYU. She teaches Elementary and Advanced level Japanese at the High School for Environmental Studies, and has taught at International House.

• Yasuko Otsue has a Master's degree in Education from Boston University. She taught English in Japan for 5 years; since 1999 she has taught all levels of Japanese at Saint Ann's School in Brooklyn.
  
• Megumi Sato has taught Japanese at the Japanese Children’s Society in New Jersey. She has a bachelor’s degree in education from Japan, and has worked in the private sector there.
  

English as a Second Language Instructor

• Katherine Major graduated from Vassar College, has a Masters Degree in Special Education from Butler and Purdue Universities and an ESL Certification from The New School. Major has taught English for over seven years at several locations, including LaGuardia Community College and Cabrini Immigrant Services. She previously worked as an executive for Citigroup and IBM Corporation.

Shodō Instructor

• Masako Inkyo has a university degree in Japanese Calligraphy. She holds the highest rank in the three largest shodō professional associations in Japan. Inkyo has received many awards, including first prizes in both shodō and pen calligraphy in national competitions sponsored by the Ministry of Education. For more information, visit www.masako-inkyo.com.