How I learned English as a Japanese person
Nobody thinks I am from Japan when I speak English. People used to think I was from the UK—probably because I listened to the BBC a lot and spent plenty of time with friends who went to school there. Now, having lived with a Southern man for some time, some people hear a tinge of a Southern accent in my English.
Anyhow, my starting point for learning English was no different from anyone else's in Japan. All the way from kindergarten through medical school, I was educated in Japanese educational institutions, speaking only Japanese in my household in Tokyo.
What made a difference, I think, was my psychological distance to the English language. My dad went to NYU and worked in Sydney when I was in grade school, and I was born in London before moving to Tokyo prior to kindergarten. In my mind, English-speaking countries didn't feel all that different from Hokkaido or Okinawa. How could English really be that different from Japanese?
The reality, of course, is that English is vastly different from Japanese. As I became proficient in the English language, I grew far more aware of those differences. Most people—even self-proclaimed polyglots—don't realize just how far the Japanese language is from English.
Most people are familiar with the concept of linguistic distance. Basically, the farther away a language is from your mother tongue, the harder it is to learn. If you do a quick search, you will see that Japanese is about as far from English as a language can get. So, don't be discouraged by Europeans whose native tongues belong to the Indo-European language family. It is innately easier for them to learn English than it is for us. Another thing to keep in mind is that neighboring languages—such as Chinese and Korean—are also extremely far from the English language. Despite that, I see many people from China and Korea thriving in America with a strong command of the English language. It is harder for us, but it is entirely achievable. There is no reason Japanese speakers cannot get there too.
Looking back on my own English learning journey:
⚬ Ages 6–12: I had some basic English classes starting in first grade. You know how poor of a job Japanese schools do teaching English—I mostly learned sentences like, "This is a pen." ⚬ Ages 13–15: My middle school had some listening comprehension training. When I was 14, I wrote a short essay in English and the teacher told me how terrible my writing was. Now, raising my own child, I can't believe a teacher would give such feedback—especially in a subject without absolute right or wrong answers. Still, it stuck with me. ⚬ Ages 16–18: I was preparing to get into a top university in Japan and scored quite well. Every morning at breakfast, I read The Wall Street Journal that my dad left on the table—like an old man. During my final year of high school, I studied about 14 hours a day on average. It feels crazy now, but it was completely normal among my peers back then. ⚬ Ages 18–24: My medical school had an English class, though it was pretty underwhelming. Mr. Holmes taught me how to shake hands properly; I don't remember much else. Because I decided I didn't want to practice medicine in Japan, I spent roughly two-thirds of my final year of medical school in the US. ⚬ Ages 25–29: Residency in NYC. I worked like a cockroach in a New York hospital. ⚬ Ages 30–31: MBA in Singapore and France. By this point, I felt quite comfortable communicating in English. ⚬ Age 32–present: Life in California. I've had a few stints on the East Coast, but I am basically a Californian now.
Even though I scored very well on English exams for college entrance, my skills were nowhere near ready for working in an English-speaking environment. Without a doubt, the biggest leap happened during my residency in New York. It is fairly predictable advice, but actually living in an English-speaking environment like the US is the shortest path to fluency.
Of course, the real question is: How do you land a job in America? I had no idea, so I decided to just go there. As a medical student, I spent time at the Naval Hospital in Okinawa, where one of the doctors I met invited me for an externship at a hospital in San Diego. From there, I got an introduction to another hospital in New York, and so on. I basically just showed up, and that momentum led to a wave of residency interviews. At the time, the specialty I wanted to get into was highly competitive—very few international graduates were getting interviews, let alone residency spots. What truly worked for me was simply finding a way to show up.
For the interviews themselves, I essentially memorized a bank of key phrases and practiced saying them aloud. That was enough to get hired. Knowing my English wasn't yet strong enough to treat patients smoothly, I watched tons of sitcoms and took online lessons speaking with Filipino tutors. I remember feeling stuck on a plateau where my English was proficient in one-on-one settings and scored near-perfect on the TOEFL, yet I still didn't feel fluent enough to converse effortlessly with Americans.
One important caveat about living in America: the whole point of placing yourself in an English-speaking environment is to actually communicate with people in English constantly. My work required a massive volume of continuous input and output, creating a true pressure-cooker environment for learning. I know many Japanese people who came to America for school, research, or work and never became truly fluent because they never immersed themselves in that kind of environment.
And then I realized that I have the exact same issue when I speak Japanese. I am fairly intelligent, yet when it comes to communicating in a group, I tend not to understand what is going on. I am simply not very good at reading people's non-verbal cues. Also, I am not interested in popular topics that many people care about, such as sports, celebrities, and gossip. Anyhow, I now feel equally awkward whether I am speaking Japanese or English.
So, what are the key takeaways from my English learning journey?
- Find a way to put yourself in an English-speaking environment.
- Memorize the phrases and vocabulary used in the specific community you are in.
- Force continuous output.
Last updated: November 12, 2026