Language learner, reader, builder of small tools.
I built Toku Reader because I wanted something that could bridge the gap between where I was in my Japanese and Chinese studies and the native texts I wanted to read. Not a flashcard app. Not a textbook. Just a quiet tool I could carry with me — something intentional, where I could immerse myself in the reading, admire the sentence structure, and sit with the characters.
The app supports both Japanese and Mandarin Chinese — furigana and readings for Japanese, pinyin for Chinese — each with its own dedicated analysis engine built to handle the real complexity of the language. It has grown into a full reading companion: paste a text, browse the web, scan a printed page, or watch a video with subtitles — and every word, everywhere, is one tap from its meaning, its strokes, and your study list. I wanted to read with intent. And I wanted a tool that respected that.
読On'yomi: toku — to read. The kanji the app is named for.
I find this character beautiful, and it captures what I really love to do when I have the time — to read, carefully and with purpose. As the Japanese form of the Chinese 讀 (traditional) and 读 (simplified), it sits at the intersection of the languages I love. It felt like the right name.
I live in New York, New York. I hold a PhD from Yale, where my research focused on political philosophy. I'm currently learning Japanese and Chinese — two languages that continue to challenge and inspire me in equal measure.
Toku Reader is a hobby of mine. I build it in my free time because I genuinely enjoy the process — thinking through how language works, how to represent it faithfully, and how to make the reading experience feel effortless. It's a small project, but one I care about deeply.
I'm always looking to connect — whether it's about the app, language learning, or anything else. Feel free to reach out.