We are an award-winning education platform that provides Japanese language classes for Nikkei and the global Japanese diaspora. At Japanese for Nikkei, we believe in providing accessible and affordable lessons to help you achieve your language goals so that you become competent language users and cultural navigators. In our small, online classrooms of no more than 15, you will gain individualized attention and the opportunity to interact with your peers and instructors to help you achieve fluency in Japanese.

Meet the Co-founders!

こんにちは！ミミとさちです。

よろしくおねがいします！

We are two Nikkei women who are as passionate about learning as we are about teaching. We created Japanese for Nikkei with the vision to support fellow Nikkei on their language learning journey for generations to come.

 
Mimi Okabe is a Nikkei and entrepreneur. She holds a PhD from the University of Alberta, is believes that language is a way to reconcile with your personal challenges.

Mimi Okabe, PhD (she/her)

When I was an undergrad student, there were no Japanese language courses tailored to Nikkei people. It has been over a decade since then, and still, there aren’t courses that meet the needs of Nikkei learners. This is why I reached out to Sachi to initiate an online teaching platform for people like us. As fellow Nikkei, I understand the struggles of learning our mother tongue (i.e., the stress, the pressure, and sometimes the haji that comes with knowing too much or not enough as we should). For this reason, we are sensitive to issues of cultural identity that are informed by personal and political history. I believe that language is one way to reconcile your personal challenges that will help you overcome fears and anxieties about reconnecting with your cultural roots. Sachi and I designed Japanese for Nikkei for this to happen in a safe and inviting space. Yoroshiku ne!

 
Sachi is a translator, teacher, and entrepreneur. She holds an MA in linguistics and taught English at Tohoku University in Sendai, Miyagi. Japanese for Nikkei is her second business. She launched Kokoro Communications in 2019.

Catherine Sachi Kikuchi, MA, TESL (she/her)

I grew up in a biracial, bicultural, and bilingual household. Although I attended Japanese school on Saturdays starting at age 5 (where I met Mimi!), I never felt comfortable studying Japanese in high school or at university. I mostly studied on my own. After completing my Master’s in linguistics, I moved to Sendai, Miyagi. There, I taught English for 4 years, most of which were spent at Tohoku University’s Institute of Development, Aging, and Cancer (IDAC). Since I had been translating, editing, and proofreading since university and really enjoyed it, I launched Kokoro Communications in mid-2019, where I provide a variety of Japanese and English communication services. Here I am now, launching another project with my friend! We are here to support our fellow Nikkei on this journey. よろしくお願いします。 (Yoroshiku onegai shimasu).

 

Fun Facts

 
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University of Alberta professor and Sherlockian, Mimi Okabe

Academic by day, suiri-otaku by night. As mentioned elsewhere, I am a huge fan of anything and everything related to Sherlock Holmes and 名探偵コナン (Detective Conan). I am currently a board member of the Sherlock Holmes Society of Canada and a member of the Japanese Sherlock Holmes Club. When I am not reading detective stories, I am writing about them! See my publications and my blog.

 
 
 
Mimi Okabe loves food! She has an Instagram account dedicated just to food. Maybe her love of food comes from the fact that her father owns a Japanese restaurant in Niagara Falls?

I love food! So much so that I have an IG page dedicated to food I cook, eat and dream about. I am currently hooked on grilled or steamed fish paired with sake. Mmm. I am lucky to have a father who owns a Japanese restaurant in Niagara Falls. (Maybe that is where my deep appreciation for food comes from?). If you ever visit Niagara, reach out to me!

 
 
Three generations of strong Japanese women - granny, mom, and Mimi Okabe.

3 generations of strong women--my granny, mum, and me (in the middle). Both my maternal grandfather and my paternal grandmother are no longer here with us, but I think of them often. I was born in Miyagi, where my mom grew up. My dad is from Fukushima. In 2011, I was working in Shiga when the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami hit, which destroyed the coastal regions of Japan. Homes were swept away, and my mum faced the devastating loss of her uncle and aunt. I hope that through JFN, we can do something to support people and communities back home one day.

 
About Catherine Sachi Kikuchi, translator and Japanese teacher
Catherine Sachi Kikuchi loves languaging, which is the process of creating and shaping knowledge, meaning, and experience thorugh language. She is a translator, teacher, and entrepreneur.

“Languaging” is the process of creating and shaping knowledge, meaning, and experiences through language. My life revolves around this. I am a teacher and translator (though I also provide other Japanese and English language services) so I am always thinking about language and culture, word choice, and nuances. It is my passion!

 
 
 
 
Sachi comes from a family of rice farmers in Iwate, Japan, and loves to try doing new things. When she was living in Japan, she participated in the planting and harvesting of rice with her family.

I enjoy trying new things - whether they be food, activities, or travel destinations. When I was living in Sendai, I often went home to Iwate to help my family in their tanbo (rice fields). Because I grew up in Toronto, I never had a chance to participate in these activities, and by doing so, I learned so much - about farming, rice, and seasons. In this photo here, I am in the family fields, wearing my ojīchan’s old T-shirt (he passed away before I was born), and my obāchan’s pants and hat.

 
 
Sachi Kikuchi is partially named after her paternal grandmother, Sachiko, who has been a farmer her whole life. Sachiko came to Toronto once and still talks about the trip!

I adore my obāchan. Her name is Sachiko, and although her name is written differently from mine, I am more-or-less named after her. My obāchan has lived her entire life as a farmer in rural Iwate, surrounded by mountains; but back in 1992, she came to Toronto! I think she is the only person from that area who has left the country. She still talks about her short trip here, and from what I hear, neighbours and acquaintances are urayamashī (jealous) that her grandchildren come from far and wide to see her on a regular basis.

 

Meet the Team!

Ken Yoshida - Instructor (he/him)

I was born in a village in northern Thailand whose name I have difficulty pronouncing. I later traded the Thai tropical heat for the Canadian winter cold in Ottawa around the age of 1, but my father would regularly take us to Nagoya visit family. Edmonton is my current home after completing MA studies in Ottawa, where I wrote my thesis on Japanese colonialism in Taiwan and Korea. My teaching-related experiences span across three universities in Japan and Canada, and one such experience was being a teaching assistant for Japanese classes at my undergraduate alma mater (where I completed a minor in Japanese). Being able to teach Japanese to fellow Nikkei at JFN brings me a sense of pride and I look forward to helping students explore their Japanese connection. よろしくお願いします！

Brandon Chua - Video Editor (he/him)

You’ll always find Brandon behind the lens of a camera. Brandon is from Alberta, Canada. He has a Japanese aunt and travels to Japan whenever he gets the chance. Brandon learned Japanese through self-study and has a deep interest in photography, Japanese car culture, anime and video games. He’s been assisting JFN since the launch of the Nikkei Spotlight Series in 2021, and looks forward to working on more fun projects in the future!

よろしくお願いします!

Memberships & Awards

  • Congratulations to Mimi and Sachi! Japanese for Nikkei: Reconnecting with Your Roots tied first place at the CAMSC -Canadian Aboriginal and Minority Supplier Council pitch competition! Thank you to our Nikkei community members who joined us LIVE! Get the full scoop here!

  • To learn more about The Canadian Aboriginal and Minority Supplier Council (CAMSC), visit their website: https://camsc.ca/about/

 
 

Join us on Instagram!

 
Who else lives by this quote?⁠ ⁠ It is honestly what keeps me motivated to do the best for myself. Stagnation will get you nowhere. Sometimes, trying something new or immersing yourself with people you don’t know is uncomfortable and even nerve
At Japanese for Nikkei, our courses have a unique color-coded ranking system. Let us all strive to achieve the black crane! What level do you want to achieve?!✨✨⁠ ⁠ Learn more about our courses: https://www.japanesefornikkei.com/courses⁠ ⁠ #onlineta
Some of you may have wondered why we offer courses tailored specifically to Nikkei...⁠ ⁠ As a Nikkei, I feel that we don’t have a learning space of our own. Growing up, I attended Saturday school where I met Sachi! But, this school only went up
🌸It was sometime in May 2020 when I was still in Edmonton that I contacted Sachi to talk about what would become Japanese for Nikkei. A month later, Sachi had designed this beautiful logo. We thought about changing it, but I really love it because t
DRUM ROLL PLEASE!!!!⁠ ⁠ 🎊🎉Our website has launched!🎉🎊⁠ ⁠ 🚀 Visit japansefornikkei.com to learn about our initiatives and the types of courses we offer!✨⁠✨⁠ ⁠ In this month’s post, you’ll learn all the cool and neat stuff that Sachi a
What does it mean to be Nikkei and/or Japanese-Canadian? ⁠ ⁠ Being Nikkei/Japanese/Japanese-Canadian is complicated because we all experience it in a different way. I think that’s part of what makes us such a rich and diverse community, but it
It's Friday! And, that means... it's our last weekend before school officially starts in September! (hurray? OR nay?) At the University of Alberta, where Mimi teaches, most classes will be taught remotely. As teachers and students, we know that this
What does it mean to be Nikkei and/or Japanese-Canadian? ⁠ ⁠ Hmmm… ⁠ ⁠ This is a loaded question that we’re asking ourselves because there is no definitive answer. As a child, I never saw myself as being different from the rest. Having g