By Terumi Kai (甲斐輝美) — Founder of Japan Language Factory (JLF), creator of the Terumi Method.
I want to tell you about three people.
Three real people. Three different lives. Three completely different reasons for learning Japanese.
But all three made the same choice.
They stopped studying for tests.
They stopped hiding behind translation apps.
And they started training their voice.
This is what happened next.
Jay — California
Jay runs a game company in California.
He has homes in three countries — the U.S., China, and Japan. He flies between them constantly. He is the kind of person whose calendar does not have free time on it.
For years, Jay traveled to Japan for business.
And for years, he never started learning Japanese.
Why?
Because he had already tried Chinese. He had already learned the hard truth — that reading and writing in a textbook does not make you speak.
He did not want to repeat that mistake.
Then he found JLF.
He started from absolute zero. No prior Japanese. No free time.
The only opening in his life was his commute. He used to listen to music on the way to work. Now he listened to JLF audio. Then he layered in 1-on-1 sessions.
That was it. That was his entire system.
A year later — Jay was giving business presentations in Japanese.
To Japanese companies. At Japanese universities.
A man with no time. With zero starting Japanese. Who chose the right method instead of the loudest one.
That is what’s possible.
Corey — Yokota
Corey is an officer in the U.S. Air Force.
He came to Japan on a three-year contract — stationed at Yokota Air Base.
He had loved Japanese culture for years. Watched the anime. Read about the country. Dreamed about it.
And now he was finally there.
But here is what most people on a base do — they spend three years inside the base. They work. They eat. They go home. They never actually meet Japan.
Corey refused to do that.
He did not want to live three years in Japan and leave with nothing but photos.
He wanted a real life.
So he joined JLF.
Within a few months, he was going to local bars. Talking to people. Making friends in Japanese.
Within a year, he had a Japanese girlfriend.
Last year, he got married.
That three-year contract? It changed. He is in Japan long-term now.
Because he found the person he was going to spend his life with.
If Corey had stayed inside the base —
If Corey had used Google Translate to date —
If Corey had treated Japanese like a test —
he would have gone home in three years.
Instead, he found a wife.
That is what’s possible.
Bon — New York
Bon is a professional photographer in New York City.
Hong Kong-American. Works for some of the biggest magazines in the world. Flies to Japan several times a year for shoots.
His English-Japanese hybrid work life was already comfortable. He could do the job.
But there was a quiet frustration.
After the shoot ended — when he wanted to wander Tokyo on his own, walk into a small shop, strike up a conversation, build a friendship that lasted past the trip — he hesitated.
He had tried Chinese before. He knew the trap. He knew that reading and writing hours do not translate into a conversation at a counter.
So he came to JLF.
He did not want to study for years.
He wanted to speak.
Today, every time Bon flies to Tokyo, his life there is bigger.
Friends. Conversations. Real connection.
And not just in Japan — even in New York. The Asian community. The Japanese network in his own city. He walks into rooms and he is himself in Japanese.
He did not add a language to his resume.
He added a world to his life.
That is what’s possible.
Three people.
A CEO with no time.
A serviceman who wanted real Japan.
A photographer who wanted his world to grow.
Different lives. Different goals. Same choice.
They stopped studying for points.
They started training for the conversation.
And their lives got bigger.
So here is the question I want to leave you with today.
You are someone too.
You have a life. You have a reason. You have a version of Japan — or of yourself — that you are still waiting to meet.
What would it take for you to stop hesitating?
What would it take for your version of this story to begin?
— Terumi
The Founder Letters — a 9-part series by Terumi Kai (甲斐輝美), founder of Japan Language Factory.
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About the author
Terumi Kai (甲斐輝美) is the founder of Japan Language Factory (JLF) and the creator of the Terumi Method — a speaking-first approach to Japanese that has graduated over 5,000 students worldwide, including learners from Amazon, Google, ANA, Mitsubishi, Lufthansa, and the U.S. military. Japanese by birth, Terumi Kai has lived and worked across three continents, and writes about language, culture, and identity at terumikai.com.