- Former shrine office staff — hands-on Shinto experience
- Passed the Jinja Kentei — Shrine Knowledge Exam, Level 1 (神社検定１級)
- Native Japanese speaker
- Currently enrolled in a correspondence university in Japan
I’m a native Japanese woman who spent years working at a Shinto shrine office, passed the Jinja Kentei Shrine Knowledge Exam Level 1 (神社検定１級), and am currently enrolled in a correspondence university in Japan.
I’m obsessed with the gap between the Japanese in your textbook and the Japanese people actually speak — the words that shift meaning by generation, the phrases that sound polite but carry an edge, and the reactions nobody ever warned you about.
When you ask me a question, you’re not getting an algorithm or a translation app. You’re getting a real person who has lived inside this language her entire life — and who genuinely loves explaining the parts that don’t fit neatly into any dictionary.