With a career spanning over a decade focused on fostering cross-cultural understanding through enhanced communication in Japanese, Naho Maruta has been a dedicated educator at Wesleyan University since 2014. Serving as the coordinator of the Japanese language program, Maruta has orchestrated regular Japanese language lectures on diverse subjects, including discussions on the significance of US-Japan relations by esteemed figures such as the Consul-General of Japan in Boston. She has also played a pivotal role as a former co-leader of the Wesleyan Language Collective, an initiative aimed at advocating for the advantages of foreign language acquisition and the appreciation of global cultures.

Maruta's passion for language instruction took root during her undergraduate years at Kansai Gaidai University in Osaka, Japan, where she specialized in English and American languages and literatures, teaching both English and Japanese as foreign languages. Subsequently, she honed her skills as a Japanese teaching assistant at Wake Forest University and furthered her expertise by obtaining a master's degree in Japanese linguistics and pedagogy from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Prior to Wesleyan, she contributed her expertise to the academic communities of the University of Notre Dame and Bowdoin College.

Beyond her instructional duties at Wesleyan, Maruta extended her educational outreach by teaching the course "Introduction to Japanese Language and Culture I" to incarcerated students at Cheshire C.I. through the Center for Prison Education program during the fall 2023 semester. She is currently teaching the continuation of this course in the fall of 2024.

Maruta's educational philosophy transcends mere language proficiency; she believes in integrating language learning within a broader liberal arts framework to enrich students' understanding of global contexts. Through the study of Japanese, students not only uncover interregional connections and parallels but also gain insights into the historical and political underpinnings of East Asia. She underscores two primary objectives in her teaching: to deepen students' comprehension of their own and other cultures and to foster their development as empathetic global citizens capable of independent and collaborative engagement in society.

Outside academia, Maruta finds solace in activities such as yoga, kayaking, travel, and exploring diverse cuisines. Holding a 200-hour yoga teacher training certification aligned with Yoga Alliance standards, she aspires to integrate wellness practices into her language instruction, reflecting her commitment to holistic education.