Teaching isn’t the end of a career.
Here, it’s the beginning.
Teach Japanese to children all over the world, entirely online. Fully remote, no experience required, side job welcome. Build a new way of working as a teacher with TOMODACHI JAPAN (NIJIN Group) — from wherever in the world you live.
We built the opposite of pay-per-lesson.
Say “job teaching Japanese online” and most people picture hourly gig work — lessons sold by the slot, a rate that never moves. We wanted to build something else: work where teaching becomes the start of your career instead of the ceiling on it, and where living overseas is an advantage rather than an obstacle.
A dual-track career
Beyond the classroom, choose a “job” and take it on: web, PR, corporate and municipal partnerships, student pathways, product development. Your market value as teacher × business builder grows together.
Freedom of place
Every lesson happens online. Join from anywhere on the map, and stay where you are — no relocation, no move back to Japan required.
Open, growth-linked pay
The compensation table is published openly to everyone inside. It is designed to rise as the school’s student numbers grow — you share in what you help build.
A safe bet, career-wise
Taking the leap here doesn’t leave a scar. Even if a role doesn’t work out, the 11 businesses of the NIJIN Group let you keep your career moving forward.
Ways to work, and what the pay model looks like.
Pick the shape that fits your life and how far you want to push. The table below shows example working styles built on the NIJIN Group compensation design. Exact figures are published openly to applicants — you’ll see the full table in the application form and the interview.
| Example working style | Right for you if | How you’re involved | Monthly income guide |
|---|---|---|---|
| A Parenting × home-based | You want family and work to fit together | A few lessons a week, taught from home | Steady part-time band — figures in the application form |
| B In your 20s–30s, all in | You want to grow your career fast | Lessons plus a job, full commitment | Full-time band, scaling to roughly 3× as student numbers grow |
| C Career-experience track | You want to use your sales or planning background | Lessons plus a business-side job | Above the full-time band, with the same growth curve |
| D Teaching specialist | You want to master lessons and materials | Focused on teaching and curriculum design | Top teaching band — figures in the application form |
| E Side-job starter | You want to keep the job you have now | From one lesson a week, evenings or weekends only | Side-job scale, set per lesson |
*These are design examples. Your actual pay is set by your role, your student numbers and your results, and is explained concretely in the interview after you apply — including the full figures. What matters is the design philosophy: this is not hourly, sold-by-the-slot gig teaching.
The people we’d love to build this with.
😊 You’ll fit right in if…
- ✓You believe in dialogue-based learning and in children taking the lead
- ✓You’d rather laugh and create alongside kids than lecture at them
- ✓You enjoy the dual track (teacher × business) and building from zero
- ✓You teach now — in a classroom, as a Japanese-language teacher, or supporting children anywhere in the world (very welcome)
🌱 No experience, no certificate? Still yes.
- ✓A Japanese-teaching qualification (the 420-hour course, the certification exam and so on) is not required
- ✓What counts is being someone who can genuinely talk with children, and wanting to build this together
- ✓“Jugyo Terasu”, our community of practising teachers (1,200+ members to date), backs you with training, mentoring and colleagues
How joining us works.
Apply
Send the form. Tell us what resonates with you about why we exist, and what you’d like to try.
Interview (a conversation)
We talk online, in your time zone. Together we look for the job and the working style that match who you want to become.
Trial & practicum
Spend real time with children at NIJIN Academy and elsewhere. Both sides check the fit (a demo lesson may be included).
Join us
We settle your class, your job and your compensation design, and you’re in. Starting as a side job is completely fine.
Three ways to join. Choose yours.
① As founder (business owner)
Make this school your own venture.
For people who want to build and run it from zero. Weekly 1-on-1s with founder Tatsuro Hoshino, running beside you the whole way. Depending on results, the path can lead to spinning the school out as a group company, taking the representative’s seat, and receiving equity.
② As a teacher, Japanese teacher or staff member
I want to help build this school.
Designing lessons, supporting operations, telling the story — there are many ways in, and many hours to choose from. Newcomers without a certificate are genuinely welcome (training provided).
③ Corporate sponsors & public partnerships
Around four million children are growing up outside their parents’ home country, and far too many of them lose their family language along the way. To make this learning free for the children who need it most, we need corporate sponsors and public-sector partners. Partnerships around international hiring and overseas expansion (100+ NIJIN corporate co-creation partners), and collaboration on education support for children of foreign roots (3 partner municipalities to date) — there is a lot we can build together.
Talk to us about partnering →Hiring questions, answered.
Can I really be hired with no experience?
Yes. We actively welcome people joining without prior experience. What we look at is not your résumé but whether you can genuinely talk with children, and whether you want to build something with us. The training and mentoring inside “Jugyo Terasu” carries you the rest of the way.
Do I need a Japanese-teaching qualification?
It is not required. You can apply without any certificate at all. And if you do hold one, you’ll have every chance to put that expertise to full use here.
Can I do this alongside my current job?
You can. Start from one lesson a week, or evenings and weekends only. As things click into place, you can increase your commitment at your own pace.
Can I work from outside Japan?
Yes — and many of our teachers do. Every lesson is online, so you can join while living anywhere in the world. We design timetables around time zones, so teachers in the Americas, Australia and New Zealand, Asia and Europe all teach at hours that work for them.
How much will I earn?
It varies with how you work. A side-job start is set per lesson; a full-commitment role begins at the full-time band and is designed to scale to roughly three times that as the school’s student numbers grow (see the model table above). Our compensation table is open, and the exact figures are shared in the application form and the interview.
What does the selection process involve?
Apply through the form → an online interview → time spent with children as a trial and practicum → we agree your class and compensation design, and you join. Four steps, no exam-style gatekeeping.
Write the first chapter of this school with us.
Teaching shouldn’t be where a career ends. Online, from wherever you live, you can connect with children all over the world through Japanese. We’re looking for the very first members of that team. Start easy — just tell us the thing you’d like to try.