Makiko grew up in Toyama in Japan. She moved to Tokyo to study law in Chuo university. After graduating, she started her international journey by moving to Melbourne as a volunteer Japanese teacher and there began her life as an educator. Then she went to Toronto to brush up her English, and then started a master’s degree in Applied Japanese Linguistics at Monash University back in Melbourne. She next moved to Beijing where she taught Japanese (including Japanese Literature) at Beijing International Studies University and Qinghua University, and eventually as an IB Japanese A teacher at an IB World School in Beijing. After spending 8 years in Beijing, she travelled to Japan and Buenos Aires, and then to Bangkok where she taught Japanese and EAL at an international school there. During this time she also traveled to Spain to earn a teaching qualification. From Bangkok she moved to Guangzhou, China where she taught Japanese A and B at an IB World School, while at the same time supporting the EAL team. After living a few years in Doha Oman, with her husband who is also a teacher, Makiko has recently moved to Singapore where she is teaching Japanese for an IB World School.
As an IB Educator, Makiko has participated in many IB workshops for Language A and B. A multilingual ‘cultural bridge’ she has also served as a translator and interpreter for the Japanese families in the international schools where she has worked. We are pleased that Makiko who has travelled so widely is now available to work with our students of Japanese A or B worldwide.