About us
Teaching Japanese in Maharagama since 2017
Empire Japanese Center is a small, registered language school. We teach Japanese, Korean and German to school leavers, university students and working adults preparing to study or work abroad.
Our story
After four years studying in Osaka, Chathurika Wijesinghe came home in 2016 and began helping a few neighbours prepare for the JLPT. By the following year there were nine students and a borrowed whiteboard, and Empire Japanese Center was born.
The name came from the first two kanji students learned to write in that room — 帝国, “empire” — which is still on our crest today.
Most of our students aren't studying Japanese as a hobby. They're preparing for a job interview, a student visa, or a skills test that decides whether they can work abroad. So we keep batches small, track everyone's marks, and don't move on until the class is ready.
2017
Chathurika Wijesinghe starts the first N5 class with nine students in a rented room on Old Road, Maharagama.
2019
Move to our current centre on High Level Road, with three classrooms and a small library.
2020
Classes move to Zoom during the lockdowns. Online batches stay on afterwards for students outside Colombo.
2022
SSW caregiver and food service test preparation added, taught with trained care workers.
2024
Korean EPS-TOPIK and German A1 classes begin. Company registered as Empire Academy (Pvt) Ltd.
2026
More than 3,200 students taught, and 87% of our N5 students passed the December 2025 JLPT.
How we teach
Four things we don't compromise on
Exam-first syllabus
Each course is planned backwards from the exam it prepares for, with a mock paper before the real one.
Speaking from week one
Grammar in Sinhala, but conversation in Japanese — every class ends with pair speaking practice.
Nobody falls behind
Every lesson is recorded, and teachers answer questions in the batch WhatsApp group.
Honest advice
We tell students which exam and visa route actually fits them, even when it isn't one of our courses.
Teachers
The people in the classroom
Five of our fourteen teachers have lived and worked in Japan or Korea. Here are the ones you're most likely to meet.
- CW
Chathurika Wijesinghe
Founder & head teacher
JLPT N1 · MEXT scholar, Osaka University, 2011–2015
- TS
Tharindu Senanayake
N3 & N4 teacher
JLPT N2 · six years as a production engineer in Nagoya
- AM
Aoi Matsumoto
Spoken Japanese
Native speaker · teaches our Saturday class live from Fukuoka
- DJ
Dulani Jayawardena
N5 & A/L Japanese
JLPT N2 · B.A. in Japanese, University of Kelaniya
- NR
Nadeesha Rathnayake
Korean
TOPIK Level 5 · four years in Busan
- KB
Kasun Bandara
German
Goethe-Zertifikat B2 · former nursing recruiter trainer
Company information
- Registered name
- Empire Academy (Pvt) Ltd
- Company registration no.
- PV 00284617
- Trading as
- Empire Japanese Center
- Registered address
- No. 126/3, High Level Road, Maharagama 10280