About Mariko Sensei
After moving to Australia at the age of 18, I pursued my dream of becoming a Japanese language teacher. At the age of 22, I began my teaching career as a kindergarten teacher, where I discovered my passion for helping young learners enjoy the Japanese language.
Since then, I have taught learners of all ages and proficiency levels in a wide range of educational settings, including preschools, primary schools, secondary schools, language schools, universities, and corporate training programs throughout Australia. My teaching experience includes Japanese as a foreign language, as well as Japanese immersion and bilingual education, where Japanese was used as the language of classroom instruction.
Since 2014, I have been teaching Japanese at the Institute of Modern Languages (IML), The University of Queensland, while also teaching Japanese at a primary school. In 2015, I co-developed intensive one-year Japanese language courses for the Australian Defence Force in Sydney and Melbourne. This invaluable opportunity allowed me to contribute to professional Japanese language education for adult learners.
These diverse teaching experiences have given me a deep understanding of how learners acquire Japanese at different ages, learning stages, and educational settings. They also inspired me to create Mariko Sensei’s Japanbooks—Japanese graded readers that help learners build reading confidence through authentic, natural Japanese that is carefully graded for every stage of learning.
Why I Created Mariko Sensei’s Japanbooks
From Classroom Challenges to Learner-Friendly Japanese Readers
Throughout my teaching career, I met many students who wanted to read Japanese but lacked the confidence to begin. Although there were many books available for native Japanese-speaking children, very few were written specifically for learners of Japanese. As a result, many students found authentic books too difficult and were unable to experience the satisfaction of reading independently.
As a teacher, I wanted resources that would help students move beyond simply learning hiragana and vocabulary to becoming confident, independent readers of Japanese. I believed that successful reading experiences build motivation, confidence, and a lifelong love of learning.
Over the years, I often heard comments such as:
“I can’t read Japanese books.”
“My students can’t finish a book by themselves.”
“My child wants to learn Japanese, but the books are too difficult.”
These experiences inspired me to create Mariko Sensei’s Japanbooks—a carefully graded collection of Japanese readers designed specifically for learners of Japanese.
My goal is to bridge the gap between classroom learning and real-world Japanese by creating readers that help learners develop language skills, reading confidence, cultural understanding, and the independence to continue learning through reading.
Why Reading Hiragana Matters
Learning hiragana is an essential milestone in Japanese language education, but it is not the final goal. The true value of learning hiragana lies in giving students the ability to read independently and continue learning beyond teacher-led lessons.
Once students can read hiragana, they begin to unlock a much wider range of learning opportunities. They can read classroom displays, vocabulary charts, labels, posters, simple books, and other learning resources. This allows them to encounter and reinforce new vocabulary naturally, helping them become more independent and confident language learners.
Reading also enables students to connect the Japanese they have learned in class with meaningful stories, authentic cultural content, and real-world topics. As their reading confidence grows, so does their vocabulary, language proficiency, and motivation to continue learning.
That is why Mariko Sensei’s Japanbooks are carefully designed to help learners make the important transition from learning hiragana to becoming confident, independent readers of Japanese.
Why Choose Mariko Sensei's Japanese Graded Readers
Unlike books written for native Japanese-speaking children, Mariko Sensei’s Japanbooks are specifically designed for learners of Japanese.
Written by native Japanese educators, our readers use authentic, natural Japanese that native speakers use every day, while carefully grading the language to make it accessible and enjoyable for learners.
Each reader features:
- Carefully graded language
- Authentic, natural Japanese
- High-frequency vocabulary
- Clear sentence patterns
- Furigana support
- Authentic photographs
- Cultural and factual content
- A gradual progression across nine levels
Every reader also includes audio recordings, English translations, and Quizlet vocabulary sets. For schools and teachers, optional Class Sets with Online Flipbooks support engaging whole-class teaching.
Our goal is simple: to help learners build confidence, develop reading fluency, and become independent readers of Japanese.
A Family Passion for Reading and Japanese Education
My mother, Mitsuko Tashiro, is both an author and a highly respected former primary school teacher in Japan with more than 30 years of experience in education. Throughout her career, she played a leading role in teaching, literacy development, and reading education in Japanese schools.
She was actively involved with the Japan School Library Association, a nationwide organisation dedicated to promoting school libraries and children’s reading education. As part of her work, she served on selection committees for recommended school books and judged national student writing competitions.
Mitsuko also received prestigious awards for her research in reading education and literacy development, including recognition from the Japan School Library Association and the Utsunomiya Department of Education.
As a children’s author, she wrote 18 award-recognised stories published by major Japanese publishers, including Kodansha and Popura Publishing.
Today, she continues to support Mariko Sensei’s Japanbooks as a photographer and adviser, sharing her lifelong passion for literacy, storytelling, and Japanese education.
English 
日本語