From a part-time staff member to a manager in just three years, Nana Motai from Coto Academy Shinjuku shares her story of growth and why she chose to build her career here.
Every campus under Coto Academy is run by a team of dedicated bilingual staff — because we believe a language school is part logistics, part hospitality, and a whole lot of genuine care for making every student feel like they’re exactly where they’re supposed to be. The person who helms each location is the School Manager.
Nana Motai joined Coto Academy as a part-time staff member in 2023 while still at university. In just three years, she transitioned into a full-time role and rose to become School Manager, first at Iidabashi and now at Coto’s newly opening Shinjuku campus. Read on to hear her story, and why she believes the best thing about working at Coto isn’t the job itself, but the people who show up for it every day.
Hi, Motai-san! You joined Coto first as a part-time staff member. Tell us more about that.
I joined Coto as a student part-timer in 2023, working at Iidabashi and then Shibuya, eight months at each. After graduating, I came on full-time and eventually became School Manager at Iidabashi, a role I held for just over a year.
Was this something you expected when you were still at university?
Not really! At university, I studied marketing and worked part-time in different places. My original plan after graduation was to work on a short contract and then head to Australia on a working holiday. But the day before I was going to raise that plan with my manager, they said something that completely stopped me in my tracks: “Why do you assume you can’t do both things at once?”
That question opened up a perspective I hadn’t considered. From that moment, I decided to pursue this role seriously, with the long-term goal of one day helping to open a Coto campus overseas. That’s the path I chose.
What was the biggest reason you decided to stay in Japan and keep building your career at Coto?
The short answer is that Coto lines up with what I want from my own life. There are three things that sit at the core of how I approach it.
The first is people, culture, and language on an international scale. When all three are present, I come alive. Working at Coto means I get to be in Japan while being surrounded every day by people, languages, and cultures from all over the world. That feels like a luxury to me.
The second is wanting to add something to other people’s lives. As a kid, I was obsessed with Disney because I loved the idea of making someone’s day brighter right in front of my eyes. But somewhere in university, I started to feel that the happiness that comes through education and growth is a richer, longer-lasting gift than any single magical moment. That’s why Coto feels so right.
The third is choosing what makes me happy. I believe your life is yours to steer. So I try to make sure that at every decision point, I’m choosing something I can genuinely say yes to. That mindset helps me hold both the hard and the good with a bit more perspective.
You’ve worked across different Coto Academy locations. What’s the personality of each campus?
Iidabashi sits in a business district, and you feel that. The student mix leans toward residents rather than tourists, and many come with serious, specific goals.
Shinjuku is still pre-opening, so the full picture isn’t clear yet — but the plan is to focus on beginner-level courses, drawing from students living west of Tokyo and around Saitama.
What’s the most satisfying part of working with students from all over the world every day?
Watching them grow, and the connection that comes with that!
For example, seeing a student who only ever spoke to me in English suddenly carrying on a full conversation in Japanese. Watching someone who walked in knowing only “arigatou” greet me two weeks later with “Good morning, it’s cold today, isn’t it?” — in Japanese, naturally, without thinking. Those moments make the work feel real and worthwhile in a way that’s hard to put into words.
But there’s something else too. The students I’ve met through this job have come from lives and backgrounds I’d never encounter in my everyday world. And at some point, I realized that what I thought I was giving them — a welcoming place — they’ve actually been giving back to me.
I feel incredibly lucky to experience that through work. And that’s exactly what makes the hard days worth it.
How do you and your team work together to make students feel at home the moment they walk in?
Coto has a benefit that covers team social gatherings, and I use that regularly, because I think the relationships built outside of work hours are what make the ones inside work hours stronger.
Beyond that, it’s the small everyday things: a quick chat in passing, a proper one-on-one when someone needs it. My goal is for everyone working here to feel like they can be themselves and shine. I’m far from perfect at it, but I genuinely care that the people I work with feel like this job is worth showing up for!
How have the campuses evolved since you became manager?
At Iidabashi, we grew student and teacher numbers, improved classroom utilization, and raised student satisfaction. That didn’t happen overnight. It came from a sustained commitment to taking each student seriously and responding to them as individuals.
At Shinjuku, we’re still very much in the building phase. What I feel every day is the weight and the gift of creating something from nothing.
What do you get up to outside of work?
I’m a huge musical fan. I go as often as once a week when I can, sometimes multiple times a month. I love it because it lets me into lives and ways of thinking completely unlike my own.
Languages and photography have been hobbies since university, too. Learning a language feels like magic to me. I spent five years obsessed with Mandarin at university, picked up some beginner French while working, and I’m now studying beginner French.
One day, I’d like to at least dip into Arabic, Russian, Korean, and German, too.
What would you say to a new staff member joining Coto?
The best thing about working here, honestly, is the people and the environment I’ve been given, and especially the managers above me. Nobody told me to say that.
Getting from student part-timer to full-time manager wasn’t a smooth road. Early on, I couldn’t even get the basics right. When I became a manager, the weight of it was overwhelming for a while. But there have been people at this company who saw beyond where I was to where I could be, walked alongside me, gave me honest feedback, and quietly made sure my growth was seen.
Ready to join the Coto World team?
If Nana’s story resonates with you, and if you’re someone who thrives in an international environment, believes in the power of language to change lives, then Coto World might be exactly where you’re supposed to be.
We’re always looking for passionate, motivated people to join our campuses across Tokyo. Explore our open roles in marketing, operations, or sales, and find out what it means to work at Coto World.
