An interview with Mio Yamamoto, Representative Director of World in Tohoku, about her unwavering desire since childhood to communicate with people from abroad, her experiences in seeking out and practicing her own learning opportunities, and her tips for speaking up in front of a large group.
山本 未生 Mio Yamamoto
Co-founder and Representative Director of World in Tohoku (WIT). She pursues her life vision of building “Change-making Communities”—ecosystems where people across borders, sectors, and generations can take steps to create positive social impact.
As a university student, she worked at a nonprofit in Malaysia and witnessed how gaps in strategy, networks, and funding kept organizations from achieving their missions. After graduating, she joined Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd. in sales and marketing, while also supporting social entrepreneurs with funding and management through SVP Tokyo. In 2011, following the Great East Japan Earthquake, she co-founded WIA (now WIT), which connects business executives from Japan and the U.S., nonprofits, social enterprises, and young business leaders to collaborate through partnerships, mentoring, and board matching.
She has given numerous talks in both English and Japanese. She earned her B.A. in International Relations from the University of Tokyo in 2005 and her MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management in 2013. She currently lives in Boston.
Mio Yamamoto was born and raised in Japan and has lived in the U.S. since 2009, now based in Boston. She leads WIT, a nonprofit organization that connects social enterprises and NPOs in Japan with business leaders in the U.S., fostering cross-border collaboration for social innovation. Her work and daily life are bilingual, as she alternates between English during the day in the U.S. and Japanese for meetings with Japan.
Her first contact with English came before kindergarten, through cassette tapes her mother played at bedtime. These included nursery rhymes, Mother Goose songs, and Christmas carols. Although she didn’t understand the lyrics, she enjoyed singing along and believes the early exposure to pronunciation has been useful later in life.
In first grade, a new classmate from a Japanese-Taiwanese background struggled because she couldn’t speak Japanese. Seeing the classmate isolated, Mio thought it was wrong that people couldn’t connect just because of language or cultural barriers. She decided that learning English—the most widely spoken language—would help bridge such divides. She even created her own learning system by drawing pictures with English words on paper and posting them on the bathroom wall.
By middle school, Mio discovered that the English songs she had heard as a child helped with pronunciation, surprising her teacher. She actively sought ways beyond school to practice: writing letters to overseas pen pals, listening to NHK’s “Basic English” radio program, and singing along with pop songs by artists like Celine Dion. The radio program became especially valuable, as she used it for shadowing practice—repeating English as she heard it, without relying on a textbook.
In high school, with more independence and part-time income, she joined free English classes at a nearby church taught by missionaries. At the time she imagined becoming an interpreter, though her path later shifted toward international relations. English remained a passion, but it was always tied to the larger goal of connecting with people across cultures.
At the University of Tokyo, she majored in international relations within the College of Arts and Sciences. While she initially thought of interpreting as a possible career, her interest broadened to international cooperation and connecting people globally. She had limited exposure to English at university itself, but this changed when she took part in an overseas internship.
As a university student, she joined an international student organization and was sent to Malaysia for an internship. She lived in an orphanage for children from disadvantaged Indian communities, teaching English and math while supporting their daily lives. While her English was sufficient for everyday communication, she realized she lacked the depth needed to fully support the children emotionally and engage in deeper conversations. This strengthened her desire to improve.
After university, Mio worked in a Japanese company but was placed in a domestic division, with little use of English. She later engaged in volunteer activities with Social Venture Partners (SVP) Tokyo, an organization with roots in Seattle. There, she connected with American counterparts and translated resources into Japanese, which allowed her to continue using English outside of her job.
In 2009, she moved to the U.S. when her husband pursued his PhD. After the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, she co-founded WIT to build bridges between Japanese and American changemakers. She also began graduate studies in the same year.
Living in Princeton, New Jersey, Mio initially struggled with everyday fast-paced conversations in English. She sought help through an NPO that matched her with a volunteer teacher—a retired journalist. This mentor met her weekly, correcting her writing, teaching natural expressions, and discussing cultural issues through newspaper articles. The experience not only improved her language skills but also taught her about American communication culture: the importance of self-assertion and confidence in group settings.
Mio explained that once she moved beyond one-on-one conversations, the focus shifted from simply “practicing English” to immersing herself in environments tied to her interests. She took classes at a community college on nonprofit management, joined coaching courses with Americans, and participated in business school settings, all of which gave her natural practice in group discussions.
She admitted that she sometimes missed opportunities to speak—not out of deep regret, but simply because the moment passed. If something was truly important, she would find a way to say it, even later via email. The difficulty lay less in lacking words, and more in struggling to catch the “flow” or “waves” of conversation. Unlike in Japanese, where she could smoothly jump in, in English she often hesitated, unsure of the timing.
Group participation is not only about speaking skills but also about listening carefully and noticing conversational cues. Mio compared it to the traditional Japanese activity of pounding rice into mochi, where people take turns swinging a mallet and turning the rice, and timing makes all the difference. Overthinking that timing, however, can make it harder to join in. She also noted that Japanese people often feel pressure to adjust to an existing flow, when in fact conversations can shift and adapt once someone new joins in.
Mio acknowledged that she naturally tends to adjust to the group, and that tendency hasn’t gone away. But she has learned not to overthink it—reminding herself that she doesn’t need to suddenly adopt an “American style” of always speaking up. Just as in Japan, there are Americans who are quieter or less talkative. Recognizing this diversity helped her ease the pressure of conforming to stereotypes about how Americans communicate.
For learners aiming to use English in international contexts, Mio emphasized the importance of knowing what motivates you. She suggested aligning language learning with what brings you joy or satisfaction—whether it’s conversations with people, achieving high test scores, or other personal drivers. This alignment, she said, helps reduce the difficulty and makes the learning journey more sustainable.
