Stephanie Smith grew up in Oregon and fell in love with Japanese culture while she was in elementary school. She studied the language in high school and majored in Japanese at the University of Oregon, spending one year as a study abroad student in Tokyo. After teaching junior high and elementary school students English in Japan for three years, she returned to Oregon to receive a master’s degree in Teaching and English for Speakers of Other Languages from George Fox University. Her hobby is visiting natural hot springs in Japan, where she and her family have been living since April 2022. Her three children currently attend Japanese schools in the mountains of central Japan