Hello! Kon'nichi-wa! My name is Hisami. I'm a native Japanese speaker and am teaching Japanese in Amsterdam. 

Since I was a little girl, I've been interested in foreign cultures and always wanted to communicate with people living in different countries. 

I was 25 years old when I started teaching English to Japanese children, and since then I've been working in the fields of teaching languages and cross-cultural understanding. 

I passed the Japanese-Language Teaching Competency Test in 1992, and started my career as a Japanese language teacher at ECC in Umeda, Osaka. 

Since I left Japan in 2004, I've lived and worked in several different countries, including the UK, the USA, Russia, Mexico, and Greece. 

With this experience, over several years, I've developed a deep understanding and insight into Japanese culture, society, and people as a native Japanese. 

At the beginning of 2015, I started my own small business of “Japanese Language and Culture Coaching / Consulting”. I offer people and organisations presentations, coaching, and consultation on how to do business with Japanese people, how to handle misunderstandings with Japanese people, as well as giving Japanese language courses. 

Teaching language is a challenging job. I found myself lucky to have these students who have a sincere and strong desire to keep studying Japanese. With such students, the teacher's role is not “teaching”, but more showing the right direction of their study and correcting it when their course is wrong. All I need to do is support and encourage their motivation.