About Us
Our Story
Virtual Nihongo originally started as a side project, in order to introduce Shiomi-sensei's expertise to a larger audience. Over the next few months, Shiomi-sensei enlisted the help of several friends in order to build something new from the ground up. With their help, Virtual Nihongo started releasing YouTube videos regularly.
From the very start, Instructor Masanori Shiomi has offered a virtual paid Japanese language class (hence the name of our organization). However, our YouTube channel remains free. Our classes are best for students who are looking for instructor support, while our YouTube channel supports students who are self-directed.
Your Instructor
Instructor Masanori Shiomi was born in Osaka, Japan. He received his bachelor’s degree in Linguistics and Master’s degree in East Asian Languages and Cultures at University of Kansas. After graduating, he taught Japanese for 10 years at several universities. He has a deep cultural understanding of both the United States and Japan, giving him a unique perspective that helps students overcome obstacles.
He has several cats he dearly loves and considers like family to him. Part of this site is dedicated to pictures of his cats. Sometimes, they also appear during classes and videos as welcomed students.
Instructor Shiomi's teaching style relies on student support, flexibility, and human connection. That means going outside of the textbook and connecting examples across experiences.
Izzy
Izzy is our Outreach Director. She has a B.A. in Communications with a focus on Interpersonal Communications and Human Relations. She also has previous experience in public speaking, website design, and social media outreach.
​
As Outreach Director, Izzy works to help build up Virtual Nihongo's audience and social media.​ Izzy is also a part of our YouTube channel! You might have seen her in the Class with Izzy series.
Jannah
Jannah is our Marketing & Video Production Director. She has a B.A. in Marketing and in International Business. Jannah also has previous experience with marketing, graphic design, and video production.
One fun fact about Jannah is that she studied abroad at Hitotsubashi University in college. As Marketing & Video Production Director, Jannah edits our YouTube videos and comes up with new ideas for our merchandise. She also does a lot of the creative design work for Virtual Nihongo, including our logo!
Evelyn
Evelyn is our Managing Director. She is in her final year of a B.A. in Political Science with a focus on International Relations in East Asia.
​
While in college, she founded two clubs on campus and helped run two more. She also recently studied abroad at Ritsumeikan University. As Managing Director, she helps oversee the general direction of our business, lead meetings, and bring our numerous ideas into reality.
