Jay Farris (American) graduated from Trinity University (San Antonio, Texas), where he focused on history, urban studies (city development and planning), and Russian language.  He has a Master-of-Engineering degree in Urban Planning from Tokyo University and is a former Monbu-kagakusho Research Fellow.  He has 19 years’ experience as a teacher in Japan, which began with school children in Tsuruoka, Yamagata Prefecture, and includes university and medical students.  He also serves as a Japanese-English translator.  Besides being fluent in Japanese, Jay has proficiency in Russian, French, Spanish and Arabic.

Stephen Ross (American) is a graduate of Columbia University, where he focused on French, and has a Master’s Degree in Teaching English as a Second Language from the University of North Carolina.  He has a long career of teaching English in Japan, as well as a parallel career as a working journalist.  He has produced news content for The New York Times, Voice of America, Yomiuri Shimbun (English edition), and CGTN (China Global Television Network).  Steve is fluent in Japanese and French.  His hobbies are videography and exploring the streets of Tokyo.

David Sablosky (American) graduated from Carthage College where he studied Japanese Language and Communications and was initiated as a member of the Alpha Mu Gamma foreign language honor society. He spent an additional year studying Japanese Language and Literature at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto before entering a foreign language contracting company in Washington D.C. as a member of the business  development department. David is fluent in Japanese and has traveled to 15+ countries worldwide. He is a passionate athlete who played baseball at the collegiate level, and he also enjoys reading, skiing, and billiards.

Troy Fisher-Harper (American) graduated with honors from the University of Iowa with majors in cultural anthropology, Asian Studies, and Asian Languages and Literature. He began his English-teaching career in Japan in 1999 in the Niigata City school system, where he was active for over a decade. As a cultural anthropologist, Troy also has extensive volunteer experience with the culture and peoples of Papua New Guinea. Besides Japanese, he also speaks Neo-Melanesian (the language of Papua New Guinea) and Japanese Sign Language (for the deaf). In his free time he enjoys gardening, cooking, and working in the theatre.

Chris Kozak (Canadian), in addition to his longtime work as a DLD instructor teaching business and legal professionals (2005-2009, and again from 2017), has been a passionate music and social studies teacher in Japan for over twenty years. He holds a bachelor’s degree in music from the University of Alberta, has teaching accreditations from a wide range of institutions and associations, and continues to research cutting-edge pedagogy. His interests include playing the saxophone (as a professional performer), environmentalism (he is a member of Al Gore’s Climate Reality Leadership Corps), volunteering, and camping. He is fluent in Japanese.

Jonathan Hertzog (American) graduated from the University of Georgia with high honors (summa cum laude, Presidential Scholar), majoring in Japanese Language and Literature. He served as an English language teacher in the public schools of Gunma Prefecture for five years, instructing students from elementary to high school. Jonathan is completely fluent in Japanese and also works as a freelance translator. His passions include films, animation, psychology, politics, economics, craft beer, and 1980’s rock and pop music.

Danielle Cukar (American) graduated from the University of Delaware with a major in Business.  Since 2004 she has taught English in Tokyo to a wide variety of professionals in the Japanese business community.  In her free time she serves as a community volunteer and enjoys playing the ukulele and traveling.  She speaks Japanese.

Shannon Parker (American) is a former Monbu-kagakusho (MEXT) Research Fellow and doctoral candidate in philosophy at Gakushuin University. His research interests included house codes (武家家訓), battlefield divination and the reception history of Chinese military texts. Shannon is fluent in Japanese and has served as a Japanese-English translator/editor at the National Institute for Research Advancement (NIRA), a quasi-governmental public policy think-tank. Besides teaching English in Japan, Shannon has taught Japanese language and linguistics to students at the University of Massachusetts. In his spare time he enjoys gardening, weight training, hiking and reading on paper.