Education. Outreach. Advocacy.

President, JLAC, Youth

(2020-)

Emiko is a Japanese native, and is passionate about sharing Japanese culture and language and has a certificate to teach Japanese to non-natives. She advocates for an expansion of the Japanese language program in APS. Emiko works for an international organization in Washington, DC, travels to many countries and loves to learn about other cultures around the world. She lives in Arlington with her husband and two children who attend APS. She has earned her bachelor and master’s degrees studying in Japan, the UK, the Netherlands, and the US.

Vice President

(2022-)

Joe has been an Arlington resident since 2015. They work as an operations research analyst in the federal government, and have interned at U.S. Embassy Tokyo and studied abroad at Waseda University. Joe holds an MA in international relations from Johns Hopkins University, as well as a BA in Japanese studies and BS in mechanical engineering from Case Western Reserve University.

Secretary, Setagaya Committee

(2018-)

John McLaughlin is a founding board member of SJA and currently serving as Secretary of the board. He works as an education program specialist in the Federal government, has a master’s degrees in public administration from International Christian University in Tokyo and Advanced Japanese Studies from the School of East Asian Studies at the University of Sheffield (UK). He holds a doctorate in education from Temple University Japan. He has lived in Japan for over 12 years, most recently through the Mansfield Fellowship Program in 2019-20. He and his wife and son have been Arlington residents since 2008.

Treasurer
(2023-)

Miwako was born and raised in Niigata, Japan. She is an accomplished accounting and finance professional with over 18 years of experience. Besides Japan and the US, she worked in Vietnam, Singapore, and France. She works in a public company in Fairfax, VA. She is passionate about contributing to the local community.

Board Member

(2018-)

Sabrina Nelson is a founding board member of SJA. She first became involved in SJA in 2018 as the parent of an APS student who was enrolled in Japanese class when APS announced plans to cut Japanese from its course offerings. She is half Japanese, and also lived in Japan for a total of eight years in Okinawa, Tokyo, and Sapporo as the child of a U.S. diplomat. Sabrina is a practicing lawyer and has lived in Arlington since 1996 with her husband and two children. She loves meeting community members with an interest in or connection to Japan and enjoys hearing their varied stories.

Youth, Outreach, Setcom

(2019-2021, 2022-)

Born and raised in Arlington, VA and is currently enrolled at Virginia Commonwealth University. They started with SJA as a student during the free Saturday classes in 2018, and worked their way up onto the board over the years. Between fall of 2021 and spring of 2022, they took a break from SJA for their first year of University but are now back on the board to help out! While at University they hope to use what they learn from SJA to create a Japanese program at VCU and to eventually make it out to Japan through study abroad!

Setagaya Committee, Origami Team

(2020-)

Originally from Japan, Yoshimi has lived in various places in Japan, Europe and USA, the longest in Arlington (over 30 years). After a long career in HR with various international organizations including the World Bank, she retired at the end of 2019. She has been an SJA supporter/volunteer since 2018 and joined the SJA board in the summer of 2020. She heads up SJA's Origami activities, and with several other teachers, is teaching origami at free SJA workshops/events and Youth Enrichment Programs for Arlington Public Schools. She contributes to SJA’s Education Committee.

Outreach/Events & Setagaya Committee, JLAC

(2021-)

Junko is a Japanese native, and was born and raised in Tokyo. Interested in international fellowship, Junko was an active member of a club that assists foreign students who study at Waseda University. After graduating from Waseda, she decided to study in the U.S. and pursued her Master’s degree in international affairs and then a Juris Doctor degree in the DC area. An Arlington resident for over 20 years, she lives with her husband, two daughters, two dogs, and two cats. Both daughters are students of APS schools (high school and middle school), and they go to the Washington Japanese Language School on Saturdays.

Member at Large

(2023-)

Miyuki is a Japanese native born in Shizuoka and raised in Tokyo. She has a BA from Tokyo Woman’s Christian University. After working for a Japanese airline company for years in DC, she decided to switch her career to the field of education. She used to teach Japanese for adults at Japan-America Society of Washington DC. She started getting involved with SJA by participating in SJA events in 2023. She loves sharing the greatness of Japanese culture with anybody who is interested and believes that learning and understanding different cultures leads to a better world. She has been living in Northern Virginia for more than 20 years with her husband, two children and a dog. She practices Kendo and yoga for her peace of mind.

Member at Large

(2023-)

Sasha Jovanovski is the leader of SJA's adult Japanese conversation class and an avid learner of Japanese herself. She has lived in D.C. for six years and has volunteered with several Japan-focused nonprofit organizations in the area. She is currently finishing her master's degree in theoretical linguistics at Georgetown University, and she hopes to write her graduate thesis on the structural dissimilarities between Tokyo Japanese and Okinawan. Her favorite place to eat Japanese food in D.C. is at Daikaya in Chinatown.

Youth Member, Education Committee

(2022-)

Kamryn is a Sophomore at Washington Liberty High School, where she is learning Japanese. She is a quarter Japanese, and a third generation immigrant. She loves learning about Japanese culture and wants to share her passion with her peers. She has volunteered at homeless shelters and food distribution programs, and wants to support her community. She is honored to be representing the youths in Arlington, and bringing their voices to the table.

Youth Member, Outreach Committee

(2022-)

Yuta grew up in Arlington and is a Junior at Yorktown High School. He spent his childhood years in Japan where he learned the basics of the Japanese language. He continues studying the Japanese language on weekends in Washington, D.C. and spends summer in Japan, where he has become deeply interested in Japanese pop culture.

By joining the SJA board, he wants to dedicate himself to outreach and is passionate about deepening the understanding of Japanese culture in the community.

Youth Board Member

(2023-)

Khaliun is a junior at Yorktown high school and studied Japanese for 5 years in Mongolia. She would love to help grow the Japanese community here in Arlington and help the youth discover their passion for learning Japanese like she once did. She is honored to be in a position where she is able to do so and wants everyone ( Japanese or not ) to fall in love with the culture and language of Japan.

Youth Board Member

(2023-)

Hanna is half Japanese and was born in Japan, moving to the U.S. at the age of 4. She is currently a junior at Yorktown High School. She enjoys language learning, math, and geopolitics. She also visits Japan every summer, studying Japanese while she stays there. She hopes to help others learn the language, too.

Youth Board Member

(2024-)

Pari is a junior at Yorktown High School and has been studying Japanese for four years -- three in class, one independently. She grew up in the Arlington area but spent a year living in Romania. Outside of learning Japanese, Pari also enjoys playing the piano and drawing. Pari hopes to share her love of Japan and its culture through the SJA, in part by advocating for the expansion of the Japanese program across Arlington Public Schools.