iuc-aboutus

Meet the Yokohama Teaching Faculty
 

Associate Director Soichi Aoki is the longest-serving faculty member at the IUC. He is drawn by the intellectual stimulation from diverse student interests. His expertise lies in Japanese language education, particularly pragmatics, evaluation, and computer-assisted learning. Despite an early interest in electricity, machines, literature, and a university focus on mathematics, he shifted to linguistics in graduate school. His varied interests span philosophy, law, mechanical repair, modern art, computers, jazz, and light muscle training. Recently, his fascination with electricity has rekindled, and he enjoys encountering high-voltage wiring and utility poles during walks.

Program Coordinator Tomotaro Akizawa teaches classes using novels in the latter half of the 10-month program, enjoying students’ unique interpretations of Japanese texts. A technology enthusiast, he manages the campus network and cloud resources at IUC, and oversaw the implementation of the online education systems used during the Great East Japan Earthquake and COVID-19 pandemic. He developed applications like Simple KWIC Lister and WebKIC for academic use. From 2010 to 2018, he coordinated IUC’s Summer Program and is now coordinator of the 10-Month Program. He is grateful for the dedication of both students and staff.  

Instructional Coordinator Tsukasa Sato was born in Nagoya City, Japan, and lived in Kawasaki and Yokohama throughout college. Her undergraduate specialization was in archaeology, followed by a master’s degree in Japanese language education. She teaches history-related classes at IUC. She enjoys walking, particularly at historical sites, shrines, and temples, swimming in pools and the ocean, watching plays and live performances like Kabuki and musicals, taking up new challenges, and deciphering old documents. 

Yoshiko Hashimoto, born in Kawanishi City, Hyogo Prefecture, is interested in grammar and AI learning. She enjoys walking, exercising, and watching TV dramas. She aspires to travel to Scandinavia and play pickleball. She treasures the belief that “everyone is different, everyone is good.”

Takuto Ito, born in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, studied literature in university inspired by novels he had read in high school. After graduation, he moved to Kyoto, wrote some novels of his own, worked various part-time jobs, and pursued graduate studies in modern literature. He then taught Japanese in Taiwan before returning to Tokyo to teach and re-enter graduate school. He enjoys reading, walking, movies, exploring unknown towns, and eating on the move but struggles with playing musical instruments, swimming, finding things, and making decisions ahead of time. Passionate about language learning and teaching, he aims to make it a lifelong joy and share it with others. 

Yoko Kato enjoys listening to music and performing in a choir. Her research interests include quotation and grammar in writing and discourse. In Japanese language teaching, she focuses on improving students’ reading and writing skills and developing their conversational abilities. She is a slow eater and admires Rilakkuma as her ideal. 

Makiko Ohashi, born in Yokohama, Japan, has lived in Chiba, Aomori, Kobe, and Iowa City. Her interests include second language acquisition, business Japanese, political science, international political history, general business, and job hunting support. She is a certified career counselor and enjoys mountaineering, playing the piano, reading, programming, and calligraphy.

Ari Sato’s interests lie in higher education, Japanese language education, and cultural anthropology. Born in the Kanto region, she has lived in Tohoku, Kyushu, and Shikoku, with connections to Yokohama, Okinawa, Kyoto, Hawaii, and Maine. Her hobbies include exercise, music, and reading.

Akiyo Senda is interested in language acquisition, particularly the acquisition process and learning environment. She hails from a small town in Aichi Prefecture and has lived in Nagoya, Durham (NC), Tokyo, and Paris. Her hobbies include traveling, reading, watching movies, and listening to music. Currently, she is taking on the challenge of learning new languages.

Saori Yuki specializes in linguistics and Chado (Urasenke). She is affiliated with several academic organizations, including The Linguistic Society of Japan, The Society of Japanese Grammar, Koide Japanese Language Teaching Association, The Canadian Association for Japanese Language Education, The Japanese Society for Language Sciences, and the Japanese Society for Chanoyu Studies. She holds a qualification as a Urasenke Full Instructor (Chamei, Monkyo) and has overseas experience from the time she spent teaching in the People’s Republic of China from 2006 to 2011.

The IUC Governing Board comprises representatives from its 14 consortium universities, and is led by the five members of the IUC Executive Committee. The board convenes annually to address policy matters, review the yearly budget, and discuss critical issues related to the functioning of IUC. 

Executive Committee
	Petrice Flowers chairs the IUC Executive Committee. A professor of political science at the University of Hawai‘i, Mānoa, her research focuses on the global-local connections between Japan and the world. Her research aims at a greater understanding of the role of Japan's civil society in expanding the norm of protection of refugees and victims of human trafficking. Her current work examines  gender norms and how they shape Japanese institutions broadly. She received her Ph.D. in political science from the University of Minnesota in 2002.
	Davinder Bhowmik is an associate professor of Japanese at the University of Washington, Seattle. She teaches and publishes research in the field of modern Japanese literature with a specialization in prose fiction from Okinawa, where she was born and lived until the age of 18. Other scholarly interests include regional fiction, the atomic bombings, and Japanese film. She received her Ph.D. in modern Japanese literature from the University of Washington in 1997.
Image	Kiyoteru Tsutsui is the IUC Executive Director. He is the Henri H. and Tomoye Takahashi Professor and Senior Fellow in Japanese Studies at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC) at Stanford University, where he is also Director of the Japan Program, a Senior Fellow of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, and a Professor of Sociology. He holds a bachelor’s and master’s in Sociology from Kyoto University, as well as an additional master’s and Ph.D. in Sociology from Stanford University.
	J. Scott Miller, professor of Japanese and Comparative Literature, received his B.A. from BYU in comparative literature and later earned his M.A. and Ph.D. in East Asian studies from Princeton University. He was an associate professor of Japanese at Colgate University prior to joining the faculty at BYU in 1994. Currently dean, he has also served as chair of the Department of Asian & Near Eastern Languages, Asian Studies Coordinator in the David M. Kennedy Center, associate dean of Undergraduate Education and Honors Program Director, and co-director of BYU’s International Cinema program.
Image	Christina Yi is an associate professor of Modern Japanese Literature at the University of British Columbia. She received her Ph.D. in Modern Japanese Literature from Columbia University. Her research focuses on the rise of Japanese-language literature by Korean colonial subjects during the 1930s and 1940s and its subsequent impact on discourse regarding “national” and “ethnic minority” literature in postwar Japan and Korea.

Governing Board Members
 

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Meet IUC's Academic Partners 
 

The IUC operates as a consortium supported by 14 leading North American universities with top programs in Japanese studies. The consortium consists of 13 full members and one associate member. 

Full members 

Associate member 

 Corporate, Foundation, and Institutional Sponsorship
 

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Learn About IUC's 60-Year Legacy
 

The history of the IUC traces back to the Stanford Center for Japanese Studies in Tokyo, which launched in April 1961 with the express purpose of producing “a substantial group of young men and women with exceptional linguistic and cultural preparation for careers in teaching, government, law, business, and other fields.” Stanford University President J.E. Wallace Sterling attended the opening ceremony in Tokyo, where Minister of Education Araki Masuo presented him with the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Rays. Housed in facilities of the Wakeijuku Men’s Dormitory near Waseda University, the Stanford Center welcomed an inaugural class of 14 undergraduates and eight graduate students. The program differed from Stanford’s European campuses in that most students went to Japan for a full year, lived in Japanese dormitories, and attended lectures in both Japanese and English.

The value of the Center was quickly recognized beyond the Stanford community. In 1963, nine North American universities with leading Japanese studies programs joined Stanford to establish the Inter-University Center for Japanese Language Studies. Stanford continued to house the Center’s administrative headquarters in the U.S., as it does today. The IUC consortium is governed by scholars deeply committed to advancing the field of Japanese studies. Consortium members know that the greatest challenge to producing future leaders capable of negotiating the intricacies of Japanese culture and society is the Japanese language itself. The IUC is their unique and highly effective solution to this challenge.

Throughout its six decades, the IUC has been home to a long line of extraordinary teachers. They have innovated cutting-edge pedagogical techniques and teaching materials, designed Japanese language courses in specialized subjects, and dedicated countless hours to raising students capable of interacting in Japanese at the highest levels needed for academic and professional careers. 

Their impact is best measured by the accomplishments of their students. The ranks of American scholars in Japanese Studies began to swell with IUC graduates within a few years of its founding, a trend that has continued for six decades. IUC graduates have gone on to leadership roles in academia, business, cultural exchange, diplomacy, fine arts, journalism, law, literary translation, and numerous other fields. Their accomplishments have been recognized with countless awards and honors, including the prestigious Order of the Rising Sun conferred by the Government of Japan.

The IUC itself has also received many accolades. In 1982, the IUC was awarded a Japan Foundation Special Prize for “its great achievement in the improvement of mutual understanding between Japan and the United States.” In 1987, the IUC moved to Yokohama at the city’s invitation and in 1999 became the first foreign organization to receive the Yokohama Yutaishô from Yokohama no kai for its contributions to the city’s internationalization. In 2012, the Government of Japan awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon, to former IUC Executive Secretary Peter Duus for his “contribution to Japan Studies in the United States and the promotion of mutual understanding between Japan and the United States,” which included 15 years leading the IUC. In 2022, former IUC Executive Director Indra Levy received the inaugural Irene Hirano Inouye award from the UCLA Terasaki Center for Japanese Studies for “her unflagging support of the IUC and her work to preserve it.” In 2023, the IUC was awarded a Foreign Minister’s Commendation from the Government of Japan for its exceptional contributions to Japanese Studies in the United States.

Former U.S. ambassador to Japan Edwin O. Reischauer stated that the IUC “serves as the single most important means of providing advanced training in Japanese language for American students with a serious professional interest in Japan.” Former U.S. ambassador to Japan and Vice President Walter Mondale called it “imperative for the sake of America's future relations with Japan,” and former ambassador and Speaker of the House Thomas Foley noted that its graduates play a “central part” in the U.S.-Japan relationship. 

Today, the IUC boasts a vibrant alumni network and community of supporters who continue to inspire each other to reach ever higher in their work with and understanding of Japan. The Center’s founders would be proud to see how far-reaching and consequential their vision has been.

Read Testimonials from Past IUC Leaders 
 

“Reaffirming the Significance of the Center's Establishment" by Osami Mizutani

“A Valuable Experience" by Kiyoko Takagi 

“The Center and I" by Kazuo Otsubo