Deputy Director General / International Education Director
Associate professor
Junichiro Suwa
My major is cultural anthropology.So far, I have researched music, performing arts, and festivals in the South Pacific, Siberia, Eastern Europe, and Japan.My experience in Papua New Guinea, the first research site, inspired me to conduct research in a new genre called "Island Culture Studies."Liberal arts subjects include classes taught in English for co-study with international students, while in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Community Behavior Course, I am in charge of practical subjects that teach fieldwork methods.
Director of International Collaboration Promotion Division
Associate professor
Sawada Hannah Joy
I'm Hannah Sawada.
I am in charge of classes to think about Japanese culture and society that can be seen from literature, and classes to deepen understanding of local culture, and provide guidance to international students on internships that can be used in their careers.We are trying to create as many opportunities as possible for international students and Japanese students to learn from each other.Thank you.
Associate professor
Nobuko Oyama
I have been involved in Japanese language education for international students for over 30 years.The main target audience is exchange students, undergraduate students, research students, graduate students, and teacher trainees.Levels range from zero beginners to graduate students.
International co-education with Japanese students has been going on for a long time.
Associate professor
Kazuko Nagao
My name is Kazuko Nagao, and I am from Mexico.
In my previous job at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, I was in charge of Japanese language education, Japanese teacher training courses, and introduction to applied linguistics (languages as research subjects).Although my major is applied linguistics, I have widely implemented online linguistic and cultural exchanges as part of training for mutual cultural understanding in the working environment and self-directed learning.At Hirosaki University, I would like to promote Japanese language education and learning for international students, as well as co-study and collaboration with other universities such as Latin America and South Korea.Thank you.
Teaching assistant
Chiyoe Takahashi
My name is Chiyoe Takahashi and I joined here in April 2021.My specialty is Japanese language education, pragmatics, conversation analysis, and second language acquisition, and I am in charge of Japanese language education for international students and Japanese language teacher training.After completing the major in Japanese language teacher training at the Japanese Department of the University of Foreign Studies, he then specialized in Japanese language education, especially conversation education.2018Received a doctorate degree.When I was enrolled in the Department of Japanese as an undergraduate, I learned that the study of Japanese language education spans a wide range of fields, including linguistics, sociolinguistics, modern Japanese linguistics, history of the Japanese language, Japanese language teaching methods, pedagogy, and educational psychology, from the perspective of viewing my native Japanese as a foreign language, and I was fascinated by the depth of the Japanese language.
Students who come to study Japanese from all over the world gather in the Japanese Language Class, which is truly a place of cross-cultural coexistence where diverse ways of thinking intersect. International students who have grown up in completely different cultural backgrounds exchange opinions with each other on a single issue and work together on a project. I thinkThis is exactly what you should learn at university, and in such a situation, the difference between humanities and sciences, and the difference between faculties is not a big problem.
Based on this way of thinking, I am constantly thinking about how to promote the internationalization of Japanese students and, by extension, the internationalization of Japanese universities.
I would like to make use of my experiences traveling to China, Australia, and Europe, and meeting students from all over the world who taught in various places in Japan, and I would like to do my best to develop not only international students but also Japanese students as highly-skilled international human resources.