Meet Our Team
John Dinkel
CEO & Founder
Tired of how Japanese was taught at universities, John took his rage out by creating a podcast that has become Manga Sensei in all its glory. John Sensei first learned Japanese as an LDS missionary and became obsessed with it. He spends most of his time trying to come up with ways to make Manga Sensei better and creating content. If he’s not doing that–he’s sleeping
John Sensei also enjoys writing kanji on his Instagram.
John Sorenson
Co-Founder, Guy who runs everything
Currently in his senior year of undergrad double majoring in Comparative Literature and Japanese. He has worked professionally in Japan as a school administrator and is currently working with researchers to conduct international sociological studies involving Japanese culture. John is also working on a paper involving existentialism, humor, and its manifestations in modern literature, that he plans on submitting for publication shortly. In his spare time, John enjoys longboarding, mountain-biking, trail-running, slack-lining, reading, writing, and going to concerts.
Brittany Olsen
Comic Illustrator
Cartoonist and illustrator. Her first book, “DENDO: One Year and One Half in Tokyo,” is a collection of comics she made every day while living in Japan from 2012 to 2013. She continues to make daily cartoons at comicdiaries.com about her spunky dog Jetpack, doing yoga, being married to a huge nerd, and other slices of life. Her all-time favorite Japanese words are “suihanki” (rice cooker) and “fuinki” (atmosphere).
Jessica Hutchison
Content Writer
Jessica has been studying Japanese for over six years. currently, she is working on a degree in Japan Studies. She loves to read, and her favorite book is currently The Tale of the Heike. Writing is obviously another thing she enjoys a lot. She has been writing since she was a kid, and never plans to stop. She is also a big fan of the performing arts, her favorite being kabuki, and opera. She loves to sing and listen to opera, and is also writing a book.
Yuri Haruyama
Comic Writer
Yuri is a student at Brigham Young University, studying Information Systems. She is works as a customer service and marketing manager in an organization which encourages Japanese students to study abroad. She also writes all our awesome comics. She enjoys cooking and running in her spare time. Recently, she started to practice gymnastics.