Welcome to Nihongo Picnic,

an online Japanese school with students from all over the world.

Latest updates

¥17,600 a month

4 lessons, ¥4,400 each

Maximum 6 students

Once a week

60 minutes

Online Group Lessons

Connect with others and improve your Japanese in a collaborative group setting.

・Practice speaking with other people
・Learn from other people’s mistakes and successes
・Meet people with the same goals

Online Private Lessons

Achieve your learning goals with lessons designed just for you.

・Get a more customized learning experience
・Receive one-on-one attention from the instructor
・Focus on the areas that you need to work on the most

¥6,600 per 50 min

   

1 on 1 with your teacher

Starting from once a week

Fit to your schedule

Inquire for pricing

  

Get updates on employee’s progress

Customized for your goals

Starting from once a week

Corporate Lessons

We offer customized Japanese lessons for corporate clients. Please let us know the goals and current situation of your employees’ Japanese skill.

OUR METHODS

Language Learning, Evolved

No one picks up a language with one hour of class-time a week. How can we best establish your foundation, nurture your progress, and accelerate your learning outside the time we spend together?

  • We create a safe space, where you feel supported, encouraged, and motivated.
  • We empower students to learn efficiently, proactively, and enjoyably.
  • Our methods match your individual lifestyle.
  • We actively engage with new practices and emerging technologies.

Balancing theory with practical tools, Nihongo Picnic is language learning, evolved.

Hear from our students

Jenn Harrison

Starter

Akane-sensei's Starter Class with Nihongo Picnic is a lot of fun, and absolutely brightens my Tuesdays every week. She provides a very friendly and cooperative learning atmosphere, is more than happy to help with any questions, and is very organized with her work. It's awesome that she adds additional small stories, vocab, and phrases of interest during our classes too - I've definitely gotten more confident in my Japanese speaking & listening skills thanks to Akane-sensei. I love this class so much, and I highly recommend it!

Norbert Woehnl

Beginner 1

The teacher makes learning a really fun and interactive experience. They also did a great job at the beginning of finding the right entry level for me and the fellow students - with everybody at a similar level, it is even more motivating to study and improve together. I look forward to continuing my studies and improving my Japanese abilities, and can sincerely recommend Nihongo Picnic to anyone.

Jamie C

Intermediate

My job sometimes makes it difficult to have a lot of energy to study Japanese. I often finish my class energized and excited to continue studying. The different "levels" of homework let me keep learning when I have extra time, or I can just do the "basic" homework if I am busy.

Krystel

High-intermediate

This is my 2nd class and I've had different teachers for each. Both teachers made sure we understand the grammar and vocabularies. Pretty satisfied that Nihongo Picnic listens to students' feedback. For instance, we asked for news articles for reading from last class and then my next class had news articles for reading comprehension.

Joey Alonzo

JLPT N3

Nihongo Picnic's lessons are perfect if you are looking for a fast paced prep course for the JLPT test! Vocabulary, grammar, and reading are all covered thoroughly and intensely!

David Laskey

Advanced

Nihongo Picnic is filling a gap I've felt in my Japanese studies for a while. The class sizes are small so everyone gets a chance to practice, and the teachers are really kind, knowledgeable, and eager to help you grow!

Kevin Schlenker

Business Japanese

Business Japanese can be a minefield, from the different levels of Keigo - all the way to actually speaking about business topics and trends. But three months of 1x week lessons in the business Japanese course and I feel more confident knowing key phrases to help you feel more confident in business settings.
The course is incredibly well structured with weekly phrases set as the main aim of each lesson, complemented by email samples, homework and class discussion.
It’s great doing these as a group as well since we get to role play and even do short, 1 min. Speeches sometimes (it’s a bit scary at first!) but all great practice in a fun and well organised environment.
This class is a great place to start if you have never learned business japanese or Keigo / or if you want to re-enforce some of your previous knowledge.

Wade Bannister

Starter

The Starter class with Miki was perfect for me. The pace of the class was right on and there was flexibility in the homework to allow us to do more or less depending on how much time we had. The classes were always engaging and all the students got opportunities to speak and listen as well as receive individualized feedback. It really helped jumpstart my Japanese learning!

James pearson

Private

Before taking the class I just kind of resigned myself to being the person who was fine with just reading Japanese and not speaking it, but thanks to the course my speaking ability and confidence to strike up a conversation with others and have my options properly expressed had increased exponentially.

Catherine G.

Beginner 1

Izumi sensei is a kind and skilled teacher. At first I felt nervous about speaking in Japanese, but her warm personality makes me feel welcome, even when I make mistakes. I'm so glad to be her student!

Atila Orhon

Starter

The Nihongo Picnic Slack community as well as the class cohorts build a nice camaraderie that I didn't expect from an online language school, kudos!

Jack E.

Beginner 1

This class accelerated my study by allowing me to speak out loud, something that's hard living away from Japan. By having a focus on verbal communication, the conversation class teaches me to express myself and better listen to others; it also reenforces grammar and vocabulary that I learn through reading and memorizing.

Lisa

Starter

The Starter class with Miki was really great! I am someone who struggles with severe social anxiety, so normal classes have always been very difficult for me. The small class with Miki was a perfect fit for me. Not only has it helped me with my understanding and pronunciation, but it has also helped me to be more comfortable talking with other people. I look forward to the Beginner class!

SC

Advanced

I enjoy attempting to speak about deeper topics, and having a regular cadence of homework helps keep me active in Japanese. The teacher does a great job encouraging conversation and keeping things lively.

Sean Sanford

Starter

I was a little nervous about starting to learn a foreign language, but the instructor has done a phenomenal job making learning Japanese approachable and fun. Even if you're only able to do the minimum homework, and attend the hour long class, you'll walk away having learned something, and feeling confident in your ability to learn more.

Cody Wilson

Intermediate

The lessons are well put together. The opportunity to practice Japanese with native speakers as well as other students in whole group and small group settings provides a variety that makes practice exciting.

Corporate Clients

WHAT TO EXPECT

Find out more

Schedule a 25 minute meeting to learn if Nihongo Picnic is right for your goals.

Decide Class

During the call, we will decide which class is right for you.

Payment

We will send you a link to complete your payment.

Join Slack

We will invite you to join slack, where there will be a channel for your class, and you can talk to students and teachers.

Start!

Class begins! You will get a calendar invite you can join.

ABOUT US

Ako Suzuki

CEO / Japanese Teacher

Ako has taught Japanese as a freelancer since 2002. She is well-known on social media for her informative and interesting Japanese tweets, and has experience working in games and IT sectors teaching Japanese. Ako is interested in how to make language learning motivating for students, and is creating her own content and events to help students stay motivated and enjoy studying Japanese.

Chiharu Kawaguchi

Lead Teacher

Chiharu has been teaching Japanese for about 5 years. Before becoming a Japanese teacher, she used to work for a hospital as a nurse. For the past 5 years, she’s been teaching Japanese at a Japanese school, companies, online classes and more. At the Japanese school, she had some classes focused on kanji in addition to other classes. She’s very research-oriented and always  actively improving her teaching skills. Chiharu loves football.

Momo Shinmei

School Coordinator

Momo is our school coordinator at Nihongo Picnic. She works closely with both students and teachers to build a collaborative environment focused on Japanese learning. Her ability to work with people with different nationalities and backgrounds is proven in her former work as an office manager at an international games company. If you have any questions about the tools or even the tuition payment, she is your go-to person! She is also passionate about language learning!

Advisors

Guillaume Hansali

Japan’s Country Manager at Keywords Studios

With 15+ years of entrepreneurial experience in Japan, Guillaume provides advice on company management and cross-cultural communication.

Mark MacDonald

SVP, BizDev and Production at Enhance Experience Inc.

Mark provides us with support for both B2C and B2B marketing, driving new business development, and offering guidance on Japanese language classes within the gaming industry.

Kani Munidasa

Co-Founder & Co-CEO at Code Chrysalis

Leveraging his expertise in operating a coding school in Tokyo, Kani offers guidance on school management and recruitment, as well as in implementing IT tools.

Collaborators

Heather Dobbin

Heather is a globally-recognized, ICF-certified transformational leadership coach and educator based in Tokyo. She helps Nihongo Picnic create an environment of psychological safety for lessons.

Canyon Boak

Canyon is product designer & software engineer building the language learning app Context and collaborating with Nihongo Picnic to build digital tools that help teachers and students.

FAQ

Do you sponsor student visas?

Sorry, we do not.

Is it possible to join from outside of Japan?

Our classes are online by default so you can join from anywhere in the world!

Do you offer lessons for children?

Yes, this is possible. Please contact us for details.

If I miss a lesson will I get my money back?

For group lessons, if you miss a session you will not be able to get that money back. However to make sure the next lesson goes smoothly, we will always provide details of what was covered in that lesson over slack. For private lessons, it is possible to cancel up to 24 hours before hand, but if you cancel after that you will still have to pay 100% of the lesson fee even if you cannot make it.

Are the lessons all in Japanese?

Aside from the starter class, all classes are conducted in Japanese. For private lessons and corporate lessons, please let us know your preference.

Can I view a recording of the lesson afterward?

We do not record our classes, to avoid any unexpected trouble. Also, when things are being recorded students and teachers may feel uncomfortable speaking freely which can get in the way of the class. While we don’t record the classes themselves, the slides used during the lesson are shared with everyone. Students who miss class would be able to review past slides and homework on slack so that they can join the next lesson smoothly.

FIND OUT MORE

Fill in the form below and we will contact you to figure out next steps or answer any questions you have.

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