Simple Gaijin Is Moving to Japan

After more than 10 years of teaching Japanese in Texas, it’s time for the biggest change in Simple Gaijin’s history.

Ayaka and I are moving to Japan.
 

Our last day in Flower Mound will be Wednesday, October 14th. We’ll initially be staying with family in Kaminokawa (栃木県上三川町), Tochigi Prefecture, while we get settled and begin the next chapter of our lives in Japan.
 

It’s exciting. It’s terrifying. And, more than anything, it feels like an opportunity I would be foolish not to take.
 

Why Japan?

This story actually started long before Simple Gaijin.
 

When I was younger, I was given a diagnosis that I later learned was incorrect. I won’t get into the full details here, but it changed the course of my life and, in many ways, prevented me from getting a fair shake during my school years. It affected how people saw me, what they expected from me, and, for a long time, what I believed I was capable of accomplishing.

​

Not many people, including family, expected much from me professionally. And when I became serious about learning Japanese, not many people took that seriously either. To some, it was just another hobby I would eventually give up.

I didn’t.
 

I kept studying.
 

Japanese eventually took me to Japan, where I studied, lived, and worked. After returning to the United States, I began teaching the language myself.
 

That eventually became Simple Gaijin.
 

What started as a small side business in 2015 has now survived for more than a decade. Through all the other jobs I’ve worked during that time, teaching Japanese has remained the one thing I’ve consistently been able to say:
 

I genuinely enjoy what I do.　Now I have an opportunity to see how far I can take it.
 

Moving to Japan won’t magically make Simple Gaijin successful. I’ve lost students. The economy has been difficult. My family has not always fully supported the path I’ve chosen. And I still have moments when I wonder whether I’m making the right decision.
 

I don’t know exactly what is waiting for me on the other side of this move.

Maybe Simple Gaijin becomes everything I’ve hoped it could be.

Maybe it doesn’t.

There are no guarantees.

But I do know one thing.

I’ve spent enough of my life hearing what other people thought I could or couldn’t do. Now I have the opportunity to find out for myself.

I refuse to reach the end of my life and wonder whether this could have worked simply because I was too afraid to try.

So I’m going.
 

What Happens to Simple Gaijin?

Simple Gaijin is coming with me.

This is not the end of the business. It’s the beginning of its next chapter. While preparing for the move, I’ve also been rebuilding Simple Gaijin from the ground up. That means a completely redesigned website, clearer lesson options, and a rebuilt 12-stage Japanese curriculum designed to take students from their first steps in Japanese through intermediate and advanced study, ending with an Advanced Japanese Capstone.

 

What isn’t changing is the heart of the business: Private, one-on-one Japanese instruction built around the individual student.

 

Current students will continue with me through the transition, and Simple Gaijin is still accepting new students.

 

Our final U.S.-based lessons will take place before the move, and regular online lessons will resume from Japan beginning November 1, 2026.

 

And for the first time in Simple Gaijin’s history, those lessons will be taught live from Japan.

​

A New Website Is Coming Too

 

The new Simple Gaijin website is now in production. After several rounds of writing, revisions, curriculum development, and planning, the content for the new site has been completed and approved. The website will better reflect what Simple Gaijin has become after more than a decade of teaching and where I want to take it next.

 

The new site will include expanded information about private Japanese instruction, the full 12-stage curriculum, beginner, intermediate, and advanced Japanese classes, conversation lessons, JLPT preparation, Travel Japanese, military and government-focused instruction, student reviews, and more.

 

There is a possibility that the new website could be completed sooner than originally expected. For now, however, I am still targeting November 1, 2026, or as close to that date as possible, for the official Simple Gaijin website relaunch. If everything is completed and ready ahead of schedule, I may bring the new website online earlier. If that happens, I’ll announce it.

 

Either way, the goal remains the same: begin Simple Gaijin’s next chapter in Japan with a completely rebuilt online home to go with it.
 

Lessons and Pricing After the Move

If you’ve been thinking about learning Japanese, you don’t have to wait for the new website. You can call or text me directly at 214-892-3207 through October 15th, 2026, or email me anytime at mike@simplegaijin.com. After the move, our U.S. phone number will change, but email will remain available throughout the transition.

Beginning November 1, 2026, new students taking one 60-minute private lesson per week will be charged $50 per lesson.

Students taking two or more 60-minute lessons per week will receive a discounted rate of $45 per lesson. Simple Gaijin is designed around consistent, ongoing instruction, so students must take lessons at least once per week. Twice-monthly, monthly, and other infrequent lesson arrangements will not be offered.

 

Current students who remain actively enrolled through the transition will keep their existing rates. Former students who are not actively taking lessons and reenroll on or after November 1, 2026, will be subject to the new rates. Grandfathered rates will remain in effect as long as the student remains actively enrolled with Simple Gaijin.
 

Thank You, Texas

I’ve called Texas home since 1999. It’s where I spent most of my life. It’s where Simple Gaijin was founded. And it’s where students gave me the opportunity to turn something I loved into something real. Leaving is bittersweet. I’ll always be grateful for the opportunities, friendships, students, and memories I’ve made here. For more than ten years, I built Simple Gaijin from Texas while teaching people about Japan.

Now I get to find out what Simple Gaijin can become from Japan itself. More than anything, this move is about betting on myself. There were plenty of times when other people didn’t. There were plenty of times when I didn’t.

 

But Simple Gaijin is still here. And so am I. I don’t know exactly what the next ten years will look like. That’s kind of the point. I took a chance on Japanese years ago when plenty of people thought I was wasting my time. That decision eventually took me across the world, gave me a career I genuinely enjoy, and created a business that has now lasted more than a decade.
 

Now it’s time to take another chance.

Bet on yourself. Always. If no one else will, do it yourself.

I can’t wait to show you what comes next.

また会いましょう！

— Mike Viscusi
Simple Gaijin