Japanese Language Program
Japanese Language Program (Online)
NEW: Summer 2025 Registrations are now open!
Welcome to the Japanese Language Program at JASDFW! We’re excited to help you start your journey with Japanese. Our beginner Fundamental classes are designed to give you a solid foundation, covering familiar topics regularly encountered in daily life and friendly social situations. The lesson focuses on introducing essential elements of the language that provide a foundational framework they can rely on as they continue learning. With this foundation, students will find it easier to understand new expressions and more complex patterns down the road. While this is not a test preparation course, the content is aligned with themes from the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) N5 level.
In addition to our regular classes, we offer informative theme-based workshops throughout the year. We’re here to make learning Japanese enjoyable and rewarding, and we can’t wait to see you in class!
✨Join our Japanese Language Program Email list ✨
These Japanese classes will be conducted via Zoom. Attendees must have a device with audio and video capabilities, as well as an internet connection. The Japan-America Society of Dallas/Fort Worth reserves the right to cancel the class if it does not meet the minimum attendance number. Please contact us at ikuko@jasdfw.org if you have questions about the language classes.
Costs (8-session courses below)
workshops are separate price
Member: $180
Non-member: $230
Membership Bundle*: $210 (Save $15!)
*JASDFW regular individual/family membership + Tuition
Japanese Language Program Policy
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Language Workshops (Online)
⭐Kana Fundamentals (Online)
Schedule: Tuesdays, July 8 – August 5, 7:00 PM – 8:10 PM (CST) (4 sessions)
Note: No class on July 15
Instructor: Izumi Sakurada
Register Here for Kana Fundamentals
⭐Kanji Fundamentals (Online)
Schedule: Wednesdays, September 3 – September 17, 7:30 PM – 8:40 PM (CST) (3 sessions)
Instructor: Keiko Yokoyama
Register Here for Kanji Fundamentals
Japanese Fundamentals 1: Getting Started (Online)
Make-up Date: September 2 or 3*
Instructor: Yurika Izumi
This course is for beginners who are looking for a general understanding of the Japanese language and to practice some common expressions used in personal conversations. The course will touch a little bit of everything of the good-to-know basics as learners begin their Japanese learning journey. Prior knowledge of Japanese characters (Hiragana, Katakana, & Kanji) is not required to take this course. Students will be able to:
- Appropriately demonstrate a variety of greetings and parting phrases.
- Demonstrate the use of a variety of basic and essential daily expressions such as yes/no, thank you/sorry, and excuse me.
- Practice introducing themselves appropriately.
- Practice sharing simple personal details such as where they live, likes/dislikes, and talents and skills.
- Examine basic sentence structures and create simple sentences about themselves.
- Examine the roles of particles in Japanese and become familiar with some basic particles.
- Recognize basic hiragana characters and distinguish them from other characters (katakana and kanji).
- Examine some practices, beliefs and attitudes that characterize Japanese culture.
Japanese Fundamentals 2: Sentence Structures (Online)
Make-up Date: September 9*
Instructor: Mariko Nijo
* The make-up day is only applicable if a class is canceled during the session. If no cancellations occur, the course will conclude on the scheduled date.
This course is for beginning level learners who have little to some knowledge of basic Japanese. The course goes deeper into understanding the basic Japanese sentence structures, especially noun and adjective sentences, while also practicing some common expressions used in personal conversations related to family, pets, occupations, and desires. This course also introduces a variety of basic particles that are essential to creating simple sentences. The course is designed as a continuation of Fundamentals 1, but completing Fundamentals 1 is not required to join this course. Prior knowledge of Japanese characters (Hiragana, Katakana, & Kanji) is not required to take this course.
Through this course, students will be able to
- Appropriately demonstrate a variety of greetings and parting phrases.
- Demonstrate the use of a variety of basic and essential daily expressions.
- Practice sharing personal details such as occupation, family, talents and skills, etc.
- Review and demonstrate some basic particles (はwa, がga, をwo, もmo, とto, のno, にni, etc)
- Examine basic sentence structures, particularly noun and adjective sentences, and create original simple sentences.
- Examine counters and how they work.
- Practice how to ask basic questions (What, What kind, How many, etc.)
- Recognize Hiragana and understand how it is different from Katakana, and Kanji.
- Examine some practices, beliefs and attitudes that characterize Japanese culture.
Prior knowledge of Japanese characters (Hiragana, Katakana, & Kanji) is not required to take this course. While taking Japanese Class 1 is highly recommended before taking Japanese Class 2, it is not a requirement. However, students should have some basic understanding of the following:
- The function of desu (です) in a sentence.
- The role of particles in Japanese sentences, especially some basic understanding of ka (か）wa（は）wo（を）mo（も） to（と）.
- How to ask a simple question: Korewa nandesuka? （これは なんですか。）
- Demonstrative Pronouns: Kore/Sore/Are（これ・それ・あれ）
- Plain form vs. Polite form
Japanese Fundamentals 3: Understanding Verbs (Online)
Register Here for Fundamentals 3
This course is designed for beginning level to lower-intermediate learners who understands the hiragana system and have some basic understanding of the Japanese language. The course focuses on learning basic structures of verbs and verb sentences while also practicing common expressions useful to describe daily activities and future plans. The course will also introduce useful conjunctive particles and continue reviewing and practicing basic particles from previous classes. The course is designed as a continuation of Fundamentals 2, but completing Fundamentals 2 is not required to join this course. Prior knowledge of hiragana and katakana, however, is required. Students will be able to:
- Demonstrate familiar and basic expressions and phrases.
- Demonstrate a variety of greetings useful in daily conversations.
- Demonstrate sharing daily activities, future plans, and past events
- Examine 15 essential particles, conjunctive particles and the kara (から）particles
- Examine basic sentence structures, particularly verb sentences and create original simple sentences.
- Demonstrate asking questions about when, where, who, what and why (いつ、どこで、だれが、なにを、なぜ）.
- Examine some practices, beliefs and attitudes that characterize Japanese culture.
While taking Japanese Class 2 is highly recommended before taking Japanese Class 3, it is not a requirement. However, students should have some basic understanding of the following:
- Hiragana Characters (Ideally also katakana)
- The function of desu (です) in a sentence.
- Noun and adjective sentence structures.
- Adjective structures (い adj vs. な adj and basic conjugation)
- Particles: ka (か）wa（は）ga（が）wo（を）mo（も） to（と）,
- How to ask a simple question: Korewa nandesuka? （これは なんですか。）
- Demonstrative Pronouns: Kore/Sore/Are（これ・それ・あれ）Kono/Sono/Ano (この ・その・あの）
- Understanding of Plain form vs. Polite form
✨Join our Japanese Language Program Email list ✨
Japanese Language Program Policy
Language Programs Manager and Instructor
Ikuko Fujiwara
ikuko@jasdfw.org
Her academic and professional background spans Japanese language education, TESOL, and Composition, beginning with a Master’s degree in TESOL from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. As the Japanese Language Programs Manager at the Japan-America Society, she leads the program’s curriculum development, mentors instructors, and serves as a primary instructor herself. Originally from Japan, she brings both cultural and linguistic expertise to her teaching. In addition to Japanese, she has taught ESOL and college composition at various institutions in the United States. She is committed to creating inclusive learning spaces that foster cross-cultural understanding and empower students through language.
Additional Instructors
Grace Chalker
Texas born and raised, Grace graduated from the University of North Texas with degrees in Linguistics and Japanese. She spent a year studying abroad at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto where she fell in love with Japan’s history and culture. Upon graduating, Grace taught Japanese for over four years. She has assisted students with AP Japanese and JLPT test prep and led an 18-day study abroad trip in Japan in 2018. During the 2019-2021 school years, Grace worked as an Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) at junior high schools in Japan. She continued her Japanese studies and passed the JLPT N2 exam. She is excited to show students how fun learning a second language can be!
Keiko Yokoyama
Keiko’s 20+ years of professional experience include teaching a variety of subjects at a Japanese school, providing one-on-one English language support to Japanese students to succeed in their local school learning, and tutoring non-native Japanese students in the Japanese language. Her dedication and attentive support to each student represents the fulfillment of the mission of language education in an increasingly globalized world, while serving the community as a bridge for cross-cultural communication.
Izumi Sakurada
Originally from Nara, Japan, Izumi has lived in the United States for over 40 years. Also an educator at Gateway to Japan, she is an experienced instructor, providing language and cultural education in Japan via online workshops since 2006. She is passionate about bridging the gap between Japanese and other cultures, and her mission is to create an enjoyable and meaningful learning experience to promote a deeper understanding of Japan and Japanese culture for students of all ages and backgrounds.
Asako Takasaki
Originally from Toyama, Japan, Asako has lived in the U.S. for over 15 years. A passionate Japanese language educator, she enjoys teaching students of all ages and fostering a love for the language. Asako is also a talented vocalist and the lead singer of the jazz-pop folk band “East of the Sun,” performing at Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Branch Brook Bloomfest, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and more. With a deep love for both language and music, Asako brings creativity and enthusiasm to everything she does.
Mariko Nijo
Mariko Nijo taught Japanese as a foreign language at a junior high school in Japan for seven years and has actively volunteered to support foreign residents, introducing cultural and linguistic differences to local children. She emphasizes students’ experiences of “being able to do” and “understanding,” creating practical, beginner-focused lessons centered on speaking, daily expressions, and basic literacy in hiragana, katakana, and kanji. She was born in Tokushima, she studied English in Ireland, French in France and Switzerland, and plans to study Chinese this year. Now living in Illinois, she enjoys connecting with people from diverse backgrounds.
Yurika Izumi
Yurika Izumi, an Osaka native, found her passion in language education during her study abroad at Sacramento State University, where she spent most of her time volunteering in Japanese classes. After earning her bachelor’s degree in Japanese language education in Japan, she returned to the United States to earn her master’s degree in linguistics, focusing on language education. She has since dedicated herself to teaching Japanese at universitiesfor over 10 years. She aims to motivate students to further explore Japanese language and culture by providing real-world scenarios to make learning more relevant to students’ lives