Kuma Sensei is a small (but growing) hub for Japanese learners, featuring study plans, posts about Japanese language and culture, and resources I’ve used myself over the years.
If you’re just getting started, you might like the 6-Step Study Plan. If you’re looking for tools and references, the Study Resources page collects what I’ve reached for most often over the years.
About Kuma Sensei
I started learning Japanese over a decade ago in college, and it quickly became the one subject that genuinely clicked. What began as coursework turned into a hobby, and eventually into living and working in Japan.
Along the way I passed JLPT N1 and worked in Japanese companies in roles that included translation and interpretation. My love for the language led me to build Kuma Sensei to bring everything that helped me as a learner into one place, and because I wanted a spot to nerd out about Japanese learning — especially the cultural bits that are intertwined with the language and those “wait, why is it like that?” moments. I hope that by writing about these insights, I can help make Japanese feel less opaque for you over time.
If you’re new to Japanese, welcome. It can be slow at times, but it’s also incredibly rewarding. I’m building this site gradually and trying to keep it practical, but if there’s something you’d like help with or want covered here, leave a comment or send me a note via the Contact page. And if you want the posts as they come out, you can subscribe to the newsletter in the sidebar.
Happy learning!