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Today is December 5th, 2023. My name is Advika Rajeev and I'm with the Houston Asian American Archive. I'm talking today with Dr. Hiromi Takayama, a Japanese language professor and researcher at Rice University.

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Thank you so much for talking with me today. Thank you. Thank you very much for having me today. So just to get started, can you please state your full name and where and when you were born?

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I'm Hiromi Takayama. I was born in Japan, in Oita, in south of Japan. Should I tell my birth date or year? Just the year? Anything is fine.

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Oh okay, okay. I'm––I was born in––well, April 9th, 1974. Thank you. And how do you identify ethnically?

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I'm Asian. Okay. You noted that you have one sibling. Are they younger or older than you? And what was your relationship like growing up?

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A year younger––a younger brother. [AR: Okay.] Well, because of the gender, you know, difference and also close age, we–we were not too close as

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siblings. I don't think. So, also, we had really different personality and interest. So, for example, I'm more––I'm the oldest sibling, so I'm more

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patient. Once I determined something and I can keep working. I have that kind of endurance. But, my younger brother, has different personality that he

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has––he had more interest for various things, but for him it was hard to keep working on, you know, specific things. So, since––well,

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our personality differences and different interests, we weren't that close. I–I think. Okay. I'm also the oldest sibling, so I understand that dynamic.

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[HT: Yeah.] How would you describe your household and town when you were growing up? Are there any specific memories or moments from your childhood that you remember? One thing I'm––I remember the most

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is my memory with my grandfather and grandmother. It's very common in Japanese culture, but sometimes we live with grandfather and grandmother. I didn't live with them, but we lived really close to

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them, so I went their house almost every day to have, you know, dinner together. Especially my mom was helping them for work. So, my mom was

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busy working. My grandmother took care of us, me and my younger brother. So, I was really close, especially to my grandmother. Speaking about your parents, what values did your

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parents place in you and your sibling when you were growing up? Yeah, that's a good question, and I believe it all depends on each household's. For my family, I admit that I'm

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really close to my mother. And well mothers––I think mothers have a lot more work for

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household––for, you know, jobs related to houses––to run houses. So then––our family as well. My mom did all the cooking, cleaning, washing, everything in my

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house. While I'm watching--I was watching her doing it. I knew that she worked really hard for us, so that's probably one of the reasons I feel really closer to my mom.

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Well, in the meantime, my dad was working for a company, for a small company. And back then, like, you know, 40 years ago, 50 years ago, it was really important for Japanese

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men work outside, work for company and really loyal to the companies. So my dad was also one of them. Worked hard for his company, so he worked

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long as well as––this is also Japanese culture, but he had to, had––well, you know, got out with his colleagues and also

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his, well, some people who's related to his work that they had to, well, drunk. Then, well, outside of the–the business, outside of

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the–the work, they had to have relationship, not only for business but even outside of the business. That they have to be close so that they can work

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better and more closely and smoothly. So he had to drunk and, you know, well, I don't know how to explain in–in English, but,

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for his business to work––to build a better relationship with his business related people, that he had to drink with them, had dinner with them until

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late. When I was small, that's why I didn't remember much with spending time with my dad, because he worked late for that reason.

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Kind of diverging into a little bit more about education, can you describe your primary school and, like, which schools did you attend and any memories that you have from that? For, particularly for my elementary, junior high

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and high school––well, even up to, you know, all the, well, for my PhD degrees––I went to public schools. So throughout my education in Japan, I went to

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all public school systems all the way to my undergrad degrees. I didn't go to private schools. So that means, you know, particular way that I was mingled with

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various kinds of socioeconomic status, you know, students just like me from a middle class. But luckily for elementary and junior high––we call it, you know, middle school in Japan–in Japan––junior high.

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I went to elementary school and junior high--junior high schools to a pretty good area that some of the, you know, sons and daughters, some of the students are from, well,

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somewhat wealthy family and also higher, you know, job status in parents from, you know, that kind of households. Not particularly for my, you know, for my–my family,

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more middle class, but even for middle class area, our area was, you know, for the school--as a the school district–district, I would say our, you know, public elementary school and junior high school were

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better schools. Better than probably average–average in Japan in a rural area. I see. Were there any memories that you remember specifically, like, from that time?

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Well, let's see. Now that I'm--I've been living in the US, well, a little less than 20 years, I found this is, you know, Japanese culture and Japanese school system.

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Under Japanese school system, we are, well, we are–we–we are asked to do a lot of group works. Well, more like a, you know, group––not group works,

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but group activities that requires a lot of... As a group, we had to participate in school,

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well, sport festival, culture festivals. Whatever we do, we are asked to act a certain ways as a group. So here, more individualistic, but

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in Japan, more collectivism that we are expected to act a specific way. So, you know, at the sport festival, we had to line up and we walk. Then we had to

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walk the same way, you know, everyone had to walk in the same way so that we show the–the unity. Which is such an important part of our, you know, culture and school culture.

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That's what I found in hindsight. That's a really cool difference that you pointed out. About your classes, what are some early memories about learning history in your classes? Were there any specific events that stood out to you?

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Particularly learning–learning history? Doesn't matter Japanese history or world history? No, anything.

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Well. Elementary school, I can't remember much if––even if we learned history when we were elementary school. But junior high? Definitely, yes.

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I think, you know, Japanese history we learned for some parts. But in general, even, you know, up to high school, I took world history as one of my electives. Junior high we all have to learn as a requirement.

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We–we had to learn Japanese history, but our focus on learning history is pretty much memorizing what happened, in which year, and what happened in general, you know, as a general knowledge,

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what happened in a particular year. So that's what I'm, you know, all remember what I learned. So this year, this historic event happened.

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Then this is what happened after the–the year, but not like we never analyzed what really happened or what kind of people involved in the historic event. Which I found later on in my life that I even,

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I couldn't remember, you know, what it meant–meant. Of course I know, because, you know, I–I studied pretty hard. So I remember which year what happened, but I didn't even––I didn't really understand what was going

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on behind, what was the rationale what happened, and what really influenced, you know, the--what the historic event influenced later events, those kind of things. So I would think that part definitely like in critical

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or analytical what thinking or, you know, related to those analytical skills--critical skills. That's lack of

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Japanese history education. I see. That's interesting. Sort of segueing into your, like, immigration moving to the US, what prompted you to come to California in 2006?

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Yes. So the reason why I moved to the US was I––for my education. To pursue higher education in the US. So first, in 2003, I started

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from–started from ESL––English as a Second Language––to learn English, to be better. So I--and also I was working at a company in Japan for six years.

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Then I decided to be an English teacher in Japan. For that reason, I came to Southern California to start ESL, and then I was aiming to get a TESOL teaching English to speakers of other

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languages in––well, TESOL certificate I was pursuing. So, for that reason, I moved to Southern California. Then I was planning to be there for a year.

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Then I was going to go back to Japan and teach English, then I did. So when you first came to the US, was there any initial culture shock or surprises when you came?

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Yeah, that's really a good question. Actually, I didn't have any culture shock when I moved to––the first place I moved to was Irvine in Southern California. Which has––back then, 2003,

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well the Caucasian people were close to the-the half of the––so very majority back then, but almost the border that, you know, minority and majority are sort of, like, shifting. So that

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means for me, it was really comfortable to see a lot of Asian people in Irvine. So I didn't have any culture shock to move to Southern California. And also I'm from southern Japan.

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Weather wise, really mild. And it–it gets hot too, but in Southern California, it's, you know, even the–the weather is milder. So the climate wise and also people are open and

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nice at least for me back then superficially. So I found, you know, those people, southern California, people in Southern California were very kind, nice, approachable. I didn't have

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much cultural difference between Japan, where I lived, and in Irvine, so I actually didn't have any culture shock then. It's awesome you had such a great transition to moving to the US.

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Yes, yes. Were there any significant individuals who really impacted you when you were moving to a new country? Yes. First, significant people were my host family.

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They became my, you know, American host––American father and mother. So my host father and host mother were the closest American people. And the first contact became the closest.

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My host father is--this was the second generation of Mexican American. So he didn't speak Spanish at all. But I was invited with his family

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living to the next town from Irvine. So I'm very close. So I went to his mother's house every Tuesday––I think every Tuesday evening that they got, you know, Mexican family––as a Mexican

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family, they had to have a big, you know, weekly gathering. Then we are invited too––I was invited too, so I was really enjoyed, you know, spending time with them, my host father's family. My host mother was a

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Caucasian American. Very nice person, very sensitive person too. She was a special person for me that I didn't talk to her much.

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I'm not probably the talkative person. Back then, I could communicate with her in English pretty well. But still, you know, I'm not talkative to begin with, and I was still, you know, struggling,

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speaking in English then. Even though I didn't talk to her or I couldn't express verbally, she could feel me, and she knew––it was almost amazing––but she knew what I wanted.

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She could almost like sense it. So in that sense, she was very special for me and she taught me––well, both of my, you know, host family taught me a lot of American culture then.

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Also, they taught me how American people are open and nice. So they were the perfect first contact for me. Your host family sounds super, super sweet. Yes, yes, definitely.

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You mentioned you came to California to learn ESL first, but can you talk about where you attend–attended college for a bachelor's and master's degrees? Yeah. For my undergrad degree, I went to school in

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Japan, in Aichi Prefecture. The third––fourth–fourth biggest town in Japan. Because, you know, I'm from a rural area, then for my generation, it was very common that we wanted to move from a rural area to a big

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city. I was one of them. I wanted to move to a big city. I chose to go to––but I didn't have any choice that I could go to private school because of my financial situation at home.

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I went to a public school in Aichi Prefecture. Then I–I back then I was interested in learning foreign languages, I wanted to study English, but

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I––well, because the Japanese university system, that we couldn't choose, at least for my department, I couldn't choose the program I wanted to––I really wanted to study.

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My first choice was English, but I couldn't get in because that was too competitive. So I––my second choice was French, studying French and European culture. So I–I ended up studying French language and European

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culture as my major. So I was in humanity then, and this is also––I was a typical Japanese university student that the peak was university

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entrance exam. So, I studied really hard to get in the university. Then I made it. So university entrance exam was my peak. After that, I was studying okay.

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I didn't have any issues for my, you know, university, well-well, study, you know, acad-academic performance for my undergrad. But that was just easy. Even though, you know, I studied enough, just enough,

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I did get pretty good one--good grade. So that means I––even though I studied French for four years, I couldn't speak French at all.

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I couldn't communicate in French at all. Now that, you know, some decades later, I can't remember anything. So this is really sad and embarrassing. But also, I'm a typical Japanese, you know, I was a typical Japanese

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college student. But at the same time I had really good memories other than studying. I was into, you know, club activities, then I had a lot of friends from my dorms. So I had very good memories, but not

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much––I–I couldn't even remember what I did for my academic, you know, for my academics life. What kind of clubs and organizations were you a part of? Yeah, I was in rugby club, but I wasn't a player.

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I–I couldn't. I'm not athletic at all. We call it manager that, you know, caretaker that just, you know, watching them, how they're doing. And if they need water or, you know, if they need some care that,

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you know, if they get injured or something, we do. We support them––the players. You clearly seem to have a lot of interest with, like, a bunch of different languages. So I'm curious, was there ever a moment in college or before that made you

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realize that language and teaching this is what you were passionate about? Yeah. When I was a high school student, I was into, well, oldies music, like, you know, Beatles, Carpenters, those things.

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That was my start. I started adoring, you know, US culture, British culture, mostly English speaking culture. And also, I really wanted to speak English fluently,

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at some, you know, at some point. Then I also started, you know––well, when I was my undergrad, I started getting into American dramas like, Back Then, Beverly Hills, 90210,

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ER, other, you know, dramas. I watched a lot. That's how I, you know, being into mostly American culture. Then English––speaking English too.

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That sounds awesome. Were there any influential professors or mentors that you remember that really shaped your professional life right now? Yes. Well. In Japan? Honestly, no.

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I––of course, I remember some of the teachers when I was at elementary school, junior high, high school because I was a good student and also a studious student. Lots of teachers, well, cared about me, you know,

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took care of me, like, closely that because I was enthusiastic about studying, you know, learning and with a positive manner. But language teaching––for language teaching,

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I–I got influenced the most was probably my private tutor from Japan. She taught me English since I was elementary school, the fifth year, so since when I was ten to what--up

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to high school graduation. So about eight years. I got private––sometimes private, sometimes well, with a couple of other students too. She was my role model

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that––she--even now, I––we are––we became more like friends now that she is about 20 years older than me. Then, she taught English for years

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and she went to the US to study English also, you know, took ESL for a year or a couple of years, just for a couple of years. Then, back in Japan and she started––she also she–she taught English

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again. Then, I was one of her students. She was––what was special for me. Because she is also a female.

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She was–she wasn't belonged––she–she didn't belong to any big schools like, you know, English language schools or anything. She was always working by herself.

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That's probably the reason I felt that she is independent. She speaks English, which I wanted to be someday and also a woman. She became my role model.

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Now that she became my friend, like, you know, close friend. She is definitely the one role model. But probably not seriously career wise, because she's a private, almost like,

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you know, more like a private tutor. At some point I wanted to be a, you know, more–more seriously toward in the academia–academia. So, I wanted to use, you know,

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my knowledge and skill more professionally. So, after thinking about that kind of thing, one of my professors from my MA program in TESOL, he is slightly older than me.

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He became––well because he–he knew really well about what, you know, what Japanese people–people are like and, he–he contacted with a lot of Japanese students.

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He was always interested in, you know, different cultures, especially Japanese culture. Then I started talking with him about my future careers, of my future

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careers, my private lives. I started sharing with him a lot. He ended up becoming my older brother. But at the same time, he gave me a lot of professional

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advice too. How I can be more, you know, well, better English teacher, perform better in academia. Those things too. So, I would think those two

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teachers are, well, personally close to me, and professionally I thought, you know, as them as a role model.

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Sounds like you had some really great mentors that you could look up to, especially for, like, personal and professional lives. Yeah. Going a bit more into your PhD program, your dissertation

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analyzed teaching efficacies between native English speaking teachers and non-native English speaking teachers in Japan. Could you talk more about what inspired this line of research, and anything you found surprising about the results that you gathered?

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Now that I'm teaching English, well, I mean Japanese. But back then, I was––that was my passion that I really, really wanted to teach English or wanted to educate foreign language teachers–language teachers.

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For my PhD degree, I got a PhD degree in foreign language and ESL education, and–and I was on the ESL education track. That I wanted to do teacher

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training for English teachers and foreign language teachers. I–I was always interested in language teachers, especially English teachers. Me, myself, as a non-native speaker of English,

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I was always interested in how non-native English speakers or English teachers can develop their professional, well, how they can develop

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their professional performance and how they can develop their more, like, a professional identity as an English teacher. So that was my start. I wanted to pursue that–that

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difference between native speaking teachers and non-native speaking teachers of English, how they develop differently personally and professionally and what their difference is in terms of their identity

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development, so that was my interest. It seems you are very passionate about it, and it's very cool that it's tied to your profession as it is right now.

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Having completed the research on education that you just explained, and having been a language professor at several colleges, you touched upon this a little bit earlier, but how would you compare, like, teaching styles in the US versus Japan?

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Yeah, that's a good question. Although I taught English in Japan a little bit, a little longer than a year, so I can't tell probably much about how to teach, you know, teach English in

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Japan. But my experience, you know, for many years my experience of my––as a student, I–I think the biggest difference is––as

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in Japanese school system, especially for, well, elementary, junior high school, high school, they rely on much on memorization.

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Whereas in the US, we care more about, you know, critical, analytical thinking. So, we should know the basic stuff, but at the same time, we have to apply the basic stuff into,

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you know, applications or practice. That's what I found the most. So, when I taught English in Japan, I didn't have a chance to talk––I didn't have a chance to teach,

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you know, communication–communication based class. I taught more test taking skills. So that's probably the one thing that I can't generalize, or, you know, I can't tell even in general of,

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you know, foreign language classes in Japan. But I think in Japan because of the–the emphasis–emphasis on tests,

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somewhat Japanese teachers are expected to teach test taking skills and also they–they always have to think how students can do well on the exam. That kind of thing. We teachers have to always have to think.

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But in the US, yes ESL––so when I was taking ESL, yes, I had to do well on the test too. But for my graduate studies, not much. More like, you know, how I think––the process of my thinking

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and how critical I can be, and I have to express how I analyze things. Which I found more important than how much knowledge I have. So that's the biggest difference for me.

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Having noticed these, like, pros and cons between the teaching styles, how have you implemented this into your own teaching style and classrooms? Well, to

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study language, especially foreign language, up to certain points, of course it's required to memorize things.

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I mean, even if we–we don't memorize, look every words or grammar structures we can speak anything. So, it's really important to memorize so that we can express

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ourselves. But at the same time, it's probably more important to–to use what we learned through language.

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It's more important, I realized. So, I want my students––I try to create activities that students can––of course, first I want them to learn and I

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want–I want them to understand a specific, let's say, a specific grammar structure. Then once they know how to use it, then I try to let them work on how to

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use them in context. I try to––I always try to emphasize then how to use a specific grammar structure or vocabulary words in context.

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I always think to incorporate that into my language activities, language teaching. Is that enough? [unintelligible] Definitely. It definitely makes a lot of sense,

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like you said, especially when you're learning something like language to actually focus more on, like, practicing it, rather than just learning how it works. So I definitely see that. Sort of segueing into, like, your career timeline,

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you mentioned that you worked as a programmer in a factory in Japan. What made you pursue that position and what did you learn from that experience? Well. So, that was my first career after graduating my college.

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Then––so what happened behind was I wanted to be a civil servant, like a, you know, government worker. I wanted, but I'm the second baby boomer in Japan. That means within for--these, you know,

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two, three years, well, the population concentrates really much for these, you know, a year I–I was born and these prior and the, you know, later a year or

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two. The population is concentrated–concentrated, so densely populated in our, you know, these 2 or 3 years. So everything was so competitive when I was young to get in, well, university was really hard.

00:41:50.710 - 00:42:00.440

To get a job was really hard too. So I couldn't make it. I couldn't pass the exam. Well, that was, like, you know, back then, like,

00:42:00.440 - 00:42:15.340

one out of 40 could be a, you know, government worker or something. So extremely hard for me to get in. I couldn't make it for that. Then, well, after taking all the

00:42:15.340 - 00:42:27.940

tests for--to be a government worker, it was already almost, you know, late to look for a job. Then I found, you know, a job. I just applied for a couple of jobs.

00:42:27.940 - 00:42:43.670

Then I got this one, you know, working at the factory. Then when I was young, I wasn't thinking too much about, you know, my career. I wasn't sure what I could do. That was the thing. When I was young, I couldn't––I didn't know.

00:42:43.910 - 00:42:56.250

So, here, you know, I just applied for a couple of jobs, then I got one and okay, yeah. Then I'll just get it. I started working at the factory.

00:42:56.250 - 00:43:13.230

I thought I was going to do, like, a HR kind of job. That's what––that was the job description. Then that was, you know, I applied for, but they, you know, changed the, well, you know, they changed.

00:43:14.110 - 00:43:32.460

Then, I ended up working as a programming that I've never done before, but actually, anyone could do, so I––even I could do, you know, not trained at all.

00:43:32.820 - 00:43:52.370

So that was a disappointment for me because, you know, I didn't–I didn't, you know, get a job for that–for that job, particular job. But there was no choice if the company said, then I started

00:43:52.370 - 00:44:09.230

doing it, but I didn't like it. And also, I didn't know what the–the, you know, the work is like. I didn't know. I wasn't serious about working.

00:44:09.230 - 00:44:25.220

I didn't know what I could do. I didn't know what I wanted to. So everything I–I didn't know, and I wasn't serious about working.

00:44:25.880 - 00:44:39.960

So, that means I didn't enjoy doing it. After two years—and also I was living by myself in a small, small town. I'm from a small town. I'm from a rural area.

00:44:39.960 - 00:44:54.720

But even, you know, I moved to a even smaller town. I didn't like the town either. Also I didn't—I wanted to live with my–my parents. I wanted to live in my parents house, but I couldn't.

00:44:54.720 - 00:45:08.580

So I, you know, stay there for two years. And I was happy moving back to my parents house, and I got a better job in, you know, many ways.

00:45:11.750 - 00:45:23.210

So, can you give, like, a rough timeline from that first job to where you are right now? Could you say that again? What's that? Can you just give, like, a timeline from your first job at that

00:45:23.210 - 00:45:41.050

factory to your job right now at Rice? Okay. Well, so for two years I worked at a company—well, at the factory, and after that I worked for an insurance company in my hometown for four

00:45:41.050 - 00:45:57.330

years. Two years for HR, two years for, I would say, like, a sales department. Then, after that, I moved to

00:45:57.330 - 00:46:12.090

the US. I–I moved to Irvine and San Diego for a total of a year. I took ESL–ESL, and I got TESOL certificate.

00:46:12.570 - 00:46:28.580

After a year, I went back home. Then I taught English a little bit—a little longer than a year at a high school and a university. Then after that, I went back to San Diego.

00:46:29.580 - 00:46:46.370

Got a master's degree for a year. Then I moved to La Crosse, Wisconsin. I stayed there a little longer than two years—two years and four months. I worked

00:46:46.370 - 00:47:03.440

for a Japanese company that sent–sent Japanese students to the US for study abroad experience for a short term to long term

00:47:03.440 - 00:47:22.390

as a, you know, undergrad students or grad-graduate students. I connected with them and talked with them once a month, make a report and report to their parents. Those students are all over in the US.

00:47:22.390 - 00:47:39.690

I worked at the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse. Some of the students are UWL, but other students are all over in the US. I did the job for about two years, and then I was accepted for PhD

00:47:39.690 - 00:47:56.280

program in the University of Iowa. I stayed in Iowa for–for my PhD degree for six years. I worked as a Japanese TA for six years,

00:47:56.700 - 00:48:13.530

and after that, I was hired as a full time Japanese instructor for two years after my PhD graduation. Then I moved to Houston. I got a job at Rice University, and now

00:48:13.680 - 00:48:28.540

I'm teaching Japanese at Rice for—this is my six years—sixth year. Great, that sounds awesome. You mentioned that you taught both high schoolers and undergraduate students.

00:48:28.720 - 00:48:40.930

Have you noticed any, like, differences in, like, learning styles or how you've had to come across in, like, your teaching style? Yeah. For teaching high school experience, I can't tell much

00:48:40.930 - 00:48:58.220

because I taught those high school students once a week, just an hour and very specific in the very specific program. So depending on which high school we teach in Japan,

00:49:00.240 - 00:49:16.750

it's—we can tell for—we–we can tell what, you know, teaching high school is like, I think. Because we have a high school entrance exam after

00:49:16.750 - 00:49:34.520

junior high. So, for example, like, I went to the, you know, competitive, well, college-bound school—high school in my prefecture. Even though I'm from a small town but the, you know,

00:49:34.520 - 00:49:50.460

school to get in the–the high school is pretty hard. So I went to that kind of school. The–the one I taught was different from those schools. So I taught

00:49:52.420 - 00:50:09.560

English and it's, you know, just a–just an hour a week. And also test taking skills that for those high school students are even in the English

00:50:09.560 - 00:50:28.370

program. They are in the English program, but their academic performance, I mean, academic level is not that high. It's a private school, meaning, you know, in rural area, most of the students go to public schools.

00:50:28.370 - 00:50:46.260

So, sometimes those students who can't pass the entrance exam to go to public school, they go to private schools. So that shows some of the students might have, you know, less motivated for

00:50:46.260 - 00:51:07.590

studying. Lots of the students don't go to university. So I taught that kind of school just once a week. Also another thing was I—because I wasn't even the, you know, part time teacher,

00:51:07.590 - 00:51:25.350

like a part time–part time teacher, so only for a week, you know, an hour a week means not much contact. I couldn't develop much, you know, relationship with my–with my students. Also, I had about 40 or

00:51:25.350 - 00:51:42.360

50 students. I couldn't even contact with them individually. So it was really hard for me to teach to those students because I don't have any relationship with them much.

00:51:42.570 - 00:51:55.800

They see me just once a week. They don't know me much. They are, you know, taking the course for test taking, I mean, for a test. It wasn't really—honestly,

00:51:55.800 - 00:52:12.740

it wasn't a fun experience for me. And I always wanted to teach—or teach English or, you know, foreign language at a university level. So that was also the call that, you know, okay,

00:52:13.130 - 00:52:28.130

teaching high school is not my thing. And I-I appreciate that, you know, I could learn it from my experience. Whereas I taught English at a-at a college in my hometown.

00:52:29.050 - 00:52:42.280

That was fun. Although I wasn't teaching full time, I didn't have much, you know, connection with them. Probably two hours a week I taught English to them, so not much contact either.

00:52:42.280 - 00:53:00.130

But fewer students—less than ten or about ten students are a class. So I had, you know, better connection with them. And also, you know, those students are more motivated to learn English because it

00:53:00.130 - 00:53:12.940

was a what we call it international school. Half of the students are-are Japanese, but the rest half are international students from all over the world, mostly Southeast Asia.

00:53:13.360 - 00:53:31.750

So because of the environment and also student motivation for me, it was really fun to teach them, although the content wasn't too fun, you know, test taking skills, but I enjoyed teaching to them. That also, you know, that was also a call.

00:53:31.750 - 00:53:48.440

Another call that, okay, I really want to teach, you know, to college students, not high school students, and teach, you know, foreign language to students. It's really cool that you had this journey to, like, really identify what it was that

00:53:48.440 - 00:54:03.270

you were passionate about and then pursue that. [HT: Yeah.] If you had to summarize your teaching philosophy in a couple of sentences, how would you do that? Couple of sentences. Hm.

00:54:07.470 - 00:54:23.350

I always tell my students two things at the beginning of the semester. I want them to enjoy learning Japanese or English or, you know, whatever language they are learning. And I want them to study hard, that's all.

00:54:23.350 - 00:54:36.870

That's all two things I always tell my students. And also, you know, if you study hard, then you're going to be better. That means you're going to enjoy more, so study hard.

00:54:37.520 - 00:54:54.040

Those things I tell my students, and that's probably my teaching philosophy. Yeah. Awesome. How do you incorporate teaching about Japanese culture along with language? Oh, could you say that again?

00:54:54.920 - 00:55:09.590

How do you incorporate teaching about the culture of Japan along with language? Yeah. First. I moved to the US when I was 29, when I started

00:55:09.590 - 00:55:25.070

ESL program, I was 29. My identity was pretty much, you know, confirmed as Japanese. I think myself as a typical Japanese, although,

00:55:25.070 - 00:55:44.840

you know, we can't generalize who the typical Japanese are, but, I have—I think I have, in my, you know, in myself, I have strong Japanese identity. If I move to the US when I was young,

00:55:44.840 - 00:56:02.030

my identity shifted a little. A little more. But I didn't—I don't think I changed much as Japanese like that. I had really, you know,

00:56:04.050 - 00:56:23.140

strong Japanese identity. I learned—and also I went through all the education–education system up to my undergrad. I went through Japanese education systems.

00:56:23.770 - 00:56:42.330

So I sometimes—well–well... When I started, you know, teaching career, I struggled a bit to change

00:56:42.330 - 00:57:01.750

my teaching style to fit in this culture. Because, you know, it's–it's hard for us to–to change something. Because it's also–it's

00:57:01.750 - 00:57:17.970

also that the way that, you know, how we are learned, it's–it's also easy that to teach how we are learned. So that means it's difficult to change

00:57:17.970 - 00:57:40.290

our, you know, teaching style from how we are learned. So...when I teach Japanese as Japanese, I believe I present Japanese

00:57:40.290 - 00:57:57.910

culture and also I asked my students a lot of almost tedious things. As a Japanese that, for example, like, you know, penmanship. Penmanship is such an important, you know,

00:57:57.910 - 00:58:08.010

part of Japanese culture. Also, you know—well, keep the paper neatly.

00:58:08.460 - 00:58:27.240

You know, when they submit paper, it's also important for us. As you know, to–to respect to others. Those—from those tiny things to—how to

00:58:27.960 - 00:58:48.190

act in the classroom too. Well, so... In the

00:58:48.190 - 00:59:03.570

classroom, even in the, you know, classroom actions—classroom management for me—I

00:59:03.960 - 00:59:27.810

asked my students to fit the Japanese standard. Like, when I'm speaking, I don't want them to speak. When—because–because—and also, you know, I try not

00:59:27.810 - 00:59:41.510

to–not to lecture. I always try to reduce my lecture time. So I try to, you know, not to speak much, but when I speak, I want them to listen.

00:59:42.170 - 00:59:57.620

Probably, I don't know, this is my–my personal–personal–personality or, you know, comes from my personality, or cultural thing, but, I might control

00:59:57.620 - 01:00:17.410

students so that students can learn more like in a Japanese way. That might be my, you know, me incorporating

01:00:17.410 - 01:00:34.910

into, you know, incorporating, my, you know, teaching style or teaching language into my–my classroom. Does this make sense? Yeah it does. It's very interesting how you're bringing across, like,

01:00:34.910 - 01:00:45.830

the Japanese mannerisms that you're teaching in class, along with just the language. [HT: Mhm.] Do you encourage your students to watch manga to improve their language comprehension?

01:00:45.860 - 01:01:03.960

Yeah. Sure, sure. Lately I found a lot more about this. Students who exposed to Japanese culture outside of the–the classroom perform better.

01:01:05.690 - 01:01:25.030

Especially for those activities that's not much language controlled, meaning, you know, grammar–grammar or, you know, test those things. If they learn from the textbook and they–they,

01:01:25.030 - 01:01:38.480

you know, they memorize things and they express themselves or they do better on the test, they do. They perform well. But I realized that's not enough. For example, if they want to speak, like, you know,

01:01:38.480 - 01:01:55.440

a specific topic, if they want to speak in Japanese for two minutes. Not only, you know, if they—it's not enough that not only from the textbook

01:01:55.440 - 01:02:09.080

knowledge. So I definitely ask my students if—I know my students are very busy, but if they have, you know, some spare time, I want them. And I also tell them that, you know,

01:02:09.080 - 01:02:25.430

if you can spend some time to, you know, read manga or, you know, watch anime, listen to podcasts, watch YouTube videos. I tell them that do–do them. And that's going to affect their performance too,

01:02:25.430 - 01:02:36.880

so I–I tell them. I think that's really cool how you saw that, like, increase in performance for people who do this, like, outside of the classroom. Mhm. Oh yeah. Yeah-yeah-yeah.

01:02:37.330 - 01:02:52.250

Mhm. That might be even more important than textbook study. I don't want to admit this, you know, as a teacher, but that's what I found. Okay. So moving onto something, like, a lot more,

01:02:52.250 - 01:03:02.090

like, contemporary, I guess. Has the advent of, like, commonplace AI affected your teaching and your students learning in a new way? Yeah, that's a good question.

01:03:02.420 - 01:03:20.870

So while I was checking the essay, I didn't think I found anyone using AI. Partly, probably, but I–I'm fine with it because, you know, as a non-native speaker of English,

01:03:20.870 - 01:03:39.500

I always check on Google, you know, which ways—because it's so hard for me to choose the right book, every words to use in context. So I, you know, search on Google which one is better, you know, A and B, then you know which one has more votes.

01:03:39.500 - 01:03:57.620

You know those kind of things, search, I do a lot for myself too. So. I don't worry too much, you know, using micro things, you know, for my students. Then I was reading my students' writing, you know,

01:03:57.620 - 01:04:15.330

essay. Then, honestly, I couldn't find any–any of them using or funny expressions that—or I don't know, I believe my students too much. But for my–my course,

01:04:17.270 - 01:04:33.730

I don't–I don't think, you know, they are affected much. I think it's very interesting to hear your perspective on this, especially as, like, a language teacher. So that's very cool. In your opinion, is there anything that

01:04:33.730 - 01:04:57.190

can't be replaced by AI specifically in language learning? Instead of people, human beings. Instead of AI...

01:04:57.190 - 01:05:32.110

Because languages—it—language comes from people. Instead of AI, only people can create

01:05:33.090 - 01:05:52.790

languages? You are not thinking about some–someone outer space or something, right? Not that kind of being, right? No, I was just curious, like, when you're teaching language,

01:05:52.790 - 01:06:09.140

is there anything that you've noticed that AI cannot replace? Oh AI cannot replace. [AR: Yes.] Okay. Okay, okay. Sorry, I think I misunderstood your answer.

01:06:15.060 - 01:06:30.950

Creative work, but that's not true either. Yeah. So, for example, this semester I asked my students to create haiku. I mean, sorry, senryu.

01:06:30.950 - 01:06:50.040

Five, seven, five, you know, five—seventeen sound, an online poet—poetry in Japanese. I like—of course, you know human

01:06:50.040 - 01:07:04.700

being's creativity is—should not be surpassed by AI, but it's also true

01:07:04.700 - 01:07:22.890

that we can ChatGPT. We can just, you know, put "Can you create good, you know, senryu by using these words" or something, right? Yeah.

01:07:22.890 - 01:07:42.940

So. Yeah, it's—it's a tough question. Yeah, but creativity. Yeah, I still think, creative work,

01:07:43.120 - 01:07:56.270

creative writing. Okay, that makes sense. Sort of transitioning on to your community involvement. You're a part of several community organizations,

01:07:56.270 - 01:08:14.120

like the Japanese Teachers Association of Texas, for which you're a treasurer this year and the American Association for Applied Linguistics. Could you talk more a little bit about your role in these organizations? Oh, Japanese Teachers Association of Texas.

01:08:14.300 - 01:08:32.560

I became a treasurer last year, but at the same time, there are also, you know, always looking for someone who do, you know, leadership roles, then it's hard for them to look for that.

01:08:32.560 - 01:08:49.070

So I accepted it. Well, as a treasurer, I take care of the finance, you know, for the–the group. It's a small and, you know, NPO—NGO

01:08:49.070 - 01:09:08.330

organization, with, well, about, you know, 70 Japanese teachers in Texas. As a treasurer, so I work, you know, on the finance. And I also update, you know, the teacher's

01:09:08.330 - 01:09:22.160

membership. Well, as a treasurer, I have to make a report, you know, annual report once a year. And I have to–I have to report at the conference, you know, to the members.

01:09:22.880 - 01:09:38.360

Yeah. And in general we get, you know, together. I mean, our board members got—get together once in a while, have a meeting, then to discuss, you

01:09:38.360 - 01:09:55.180

know, topics, the future. Well, workshops, plan, you know, planned workshops and in general, you know, keep the–the–the group

01:09:55.180 - 01:10:10.960

going on. So maintain, you know, from small things to planning, you know, for the conference, you know, the part–part to the–the conference and also the workshops, those things.

01:10:11.770 - 01:10:29.460

To be real, I try to submit proposals every year. Then, if it's accepted, I present in a conference. So for GPL,

01:10:29.460 - 01:10:42.750

it's a, you know, huge foreign language teachers association. I don't know how many even you know, belong to. We also have the Japanese part, I mean, you know, Japanese Teachers Association.

01:10:42.810 - 01:11:01.170

What was the name? Oh, well. Let's see, JTA. Japanese Teachers Association. Well, some hundreds, I don't know.

01:11:01.170 - 01:11:17.970

You know how many, yeah. So part of the Japanese teachers group, we are accepted for conference, so we have a session as a Japanese teachers.

01:11:17.970 - 01:11:32.460

So, you know, Japanese teachers have specific slots and we have, you know, presentations. So if I'm accepted, I'm the part of JTA, Japanese Teacher's Association.

01:11:32.460 - 01:11:52.420

So in that sense, I'm more, you know, belong to ATJ, Japanese Teachers Association that try to contribute, you know, my academic work to them so that, you know, we can share the, you know,

01:11:52.420 - 01:12:10.150

the instruction practice in the classroom also, you know, in research. So share the information with other Japanese teachers. But, you know, becomes the part of my community work

01:12:10.450 - 01:12:21.780

to them. It's awesome how these organizations all help you, like, provide information to one another and learn from each other. That's very cool. Yeah.

01:12:22.920 - 01:12:40.830

I noticed, like, the Japanese Teachers Association of Texas website has a lot of Japanese programs offered from elementary school to university level in Texas. However, apart from colleges, Houston seems to be behind other Texas cities in offering Japanese to elementary through high school students.

01:12:40.980 - 01:12:57.000

Mhm. Could you share your insight on any possible reasons behind this? So you said that compared to K-12, university in Texas has less Japanese programs. I think it's the other way.

01:12:57.000 - 01:13:11.840

The colleges have a lot. But then, like, elementary through high school, students don't have as much. Okay, okay. Well, I honestly, I don't know about the, you know, Japanese education in K-12

01:13:11.840 - 01:13:31.890

system. So how much, you know, those Japanese teachers have to work on to set up the program for K-12. I don't know. But at the same time, well, even for college.

01:13:31.890 - 01:13:49.370

I'm not sure how Japanese education, you know, what teaching Japanese is popular in Texas for college levels too. So that part I'm—I don't know.

01:13:49.370 - 01:14:06.670

I mean, I can't tell, definitely I can't tell for K-12. University, I–I believe, you know, depending on the–the university they–they choose the programs then? But good thing

01:14:06.670 - 01:14:24.390

is, you know, for–for Japanese, Japanese language is almost always popular to, you know, for–for students to take courses. Both, you know, K-12 to university, especially,

01:14:24.390 - 01:14:39.640

I think university levels. So for some, you know, not commonly taught languages, they've been struggling for their enrollments for some foreign languages, but not much for Japanese,

01:14:39.640 - 01:14:57.570

so for probably that reason, universities and colleges expect Japanese programs to—for, you know, to stable student–student's enrollment. That's probably the–the reason that you know university—for universities

01:14:57.570 - 01:15:17.100

it's—there are more, you know, Japanese programs for universities. I see. Last year you gave a presentation at the American Association of Teachers of Japan about incorporating anti-racist pedagogy into the foreign language classroom.

01:15:17.250 - 01:15:38.440

What prompted you to give that speech, and how was that experience? Anti-racist pedagogy is not, you know, is not taught commonly in Japanese teaching. So I wanted to do something new.

01:15:38.740 - 01:15:55.000

I had a chance to participate in a workshop provided by CTE––Center for Teaching Excellence. They gave us a workshop that

01:15:55.000 - 01:16:10.060

focusing, you know, focusing—focuses on how to incorporate anti-racist pedagogy into our classroom. Then I took the workshop.

01:16:10.060 - 01:16:29.720

I joined the workshop and I found it very interesting that I didn't have much knowledge either. I hadn't done anything about anti-racist pedagogy in my classroom. So I wanted to do something

01:16:29.990 - 01:16:47.620

new. And back then, you know, the–the topic was really hot that, you know, because of the Black Lives Matter and other, you know, well, those, you know, things.

01:16:49.220 - 01:17:07.200

So for the conference, I presented what I did for the the course. So that was more like, my report, how I use the topic anti-racist pedagogy to my class, you know, to my instruction.

01:17:08.200 - 01:17:24.590

Then, I did the—I gave the presentation at the conference, then I–I actually had a lot of audience. I mean, you know, most of them are, yeah, most of

01:17:24.590 - 01:17:38.660

them or almost all of them were teaching Japanese, I mean Japanese teachers. But after my presentation, I didn't have many questions.

01:17:39.500 - 01:17:57.800

That was a little bit disappointing. Part of the reason was, you know, my—well, based on my analysis, because I gave the presentation in English, was probably one thing.

01:17:57.800 - 01:18:17.420

And the other thing was, I thought anti-racist pedagogy is not used in Japanese instruction, Japanese classroom. So not many teachers were not really interested in anti-racist pedagogy, or I got the feedback.

01:18:17.420 - 01:18:36.690

One of the feedback was that, well, like, a question or feedback, you know, was that I'm afraid of dealing with the conflicts among students, or if I choose the–the—if–if I–if I can't choose the correct

01:18:36.690 - 01:18:50.820

topic or appropriate topic, what should I do? Or something like that. So the topic itself was hard.

01:18:50.820 - 01:19:06.580

And also, it probably doesn't quite fit in Japanese culture to discuss, you know, put the—well, some, you know, confront–confrontations on the table and, you know,

01:19:06.580 - 01:19:21.150

let's discuss about it. That kind of thing is not the Japanese thing—Japanese culture either. So I found it interesting. At the same time, you know, I found it a little bit disappointing that I

01:19:21.150 - 01:19:34.060

didn't get, you know, much feedback or, you know, many questions. So what were your perspectives on those questions that you were asked? Like, how would you deal with those scenarios in your classroom?

01:19:35.650 - 01:19:50.920

Mhm. What I did was I let my students—I invited my students to–to choose their own topics. So whatever they are interested in related to anti-racist pedagogy, they could–they could pick up their own topics,

01:19:50.920 - 01:20:02.760

whatever they are interested in. So that was my bottom line. I, for the lecture part, I introduced what–what–what the

01:20:02.760 - 01:20:20.930

anti-racist—anti-racism is like or, you know, is pursued, I mean, perceived in Japan. I just, you know, I gave them a short paragraph to

01:20:20.930 - 01:20:39.430

introduce this is, you know, this is how anti-racist pedagogy is perceived–perceived in Japan. Then how—this is how people think. And also

01:20:39.430 - 01:20:58.700

I picked up an issue as an—I found the YouTube video that discussed the topic of how black comedian fluent in Japanese, the black comedian

01:20:58.700 - 01:21:17.840

man is perceived in Japanese in Japan or, you know, for Japanese people. So, I gave them a very general sense or general knowledge or general perception, how Japanese people think

01:21:17.840 - 01:21:37.190

or how, you know, what our attitudes are toward anti-racism pedagogy, but I didn't do anything really critical or, like, a really controversial issues. For example, the relationship between

01:21:37.190 - 01:21:55.090

Japan and also, you know, Korean and Korean people living in Japan, born in Japan. Those people, I mean, you know, probably the more, you know, well, confrontations, like,

01:21:55.090 - 01:22:09.510

you know, those things. I didn't touch anything because I–I was also one of, you know, my audiences that I wasn't sure how to deal with it.

01:22:10.220 - 01:22:25.220

You know, those controversial issues. And so... Yeah I—so the—for me,

01:22:25.220 - 01:22:42.810

it ma–made sense for that students could choose their own topics or, you know, they–they wanted to do, they wanted to discuss. Then, they ended up sharing, you know, with their classmates.

01:22:43.960 - 01:23:00.580

Then, that means, you know, there are—there were how many students? There were more than ten students means, you know, more than ten topics because students had different interests. So that was good, that was also a good varieties,

01:23:00.580 - 01:23:18.280

you know, and diversity among students because each student had different interests. So that ended up, yeah, well, ended up presenting, you know, in a good way with varieties.

01:23:19.030 - 01:23:38.120

Also based on their interests. I think it's really amazing that you gave them that option, because now they're personally invested in that topic and that will prompt them to do further research. So that's cool. Going a little bit more broad,

01:23:38.120 - 01:23:56.140

what do you think about the Asian American community in Houston, and how would you compare it to those communities in Iowa and California? Well, I, actually, another community I'm related to is JASH,

01:23:56.560 - 01:24:13.300

Japan–Japan America Society of Houston. I, you know, I pretty—I work closely to them. For example, I'm into, you know, well, I–I

01:24:13.300 - 01:24:28.050

like–I like inviting my students to participate in Japanese speech contest once a year. Then they run the Japanese speech contest, and I, you know, send—I sent my students a lot, and I ended up,

01:24:28.050 - 01:24:42.600

you know, connecting with them. So through, you know, those kind of activities. I, sometimes in a work with them, then there are

01:24:42.600 - 01:25:01.400

more—I see—well when I was in California, I saw a—I saw some Japanese American people, but I didn't have much connections with them because I was, you know, mostly, ESL

01:25:01.400 - 01:25:20.890

student, meaning friends are mostly ESL students, so I didn't have many contacts with local people. So there were a lot, you know, Asian American people in Japan, I mean, in Southern California, but I didn't have contact with them.

01:25:22.010 - 01:25:38.000

Here, I started, you know, seeing, more Asian American people in here in Houston, quite a few Asian American population here. Then I found, you know, some of them are, Japanese American people,

01:25:38.000 - 01:25:54.830

too. And some of my students are Japanese Americans, too. So I feel I'm a—I'm–I'm more aware of Asian American people in Houston more than any other

01:25:54.830 - 01:26:09.200

places, because I didn't have much contact with them. Now that I have more contact with them, and also quite a few, you know, people living in here and big communities, and also I'm more involved with, you know, working with them too.

01:26:10.340 - 01:26:25.590

I—which I–I appreciate it and I like it. Although my—as I, you know, as I told you, I have a strong identity as Japanese. I don't think you know, I'm an Asian American.

01:26:25.590 - 01:26:46.120

I'm Japanese because I'm Japanese. So in that sense, I enjoy, of course, I enjoy seeing them, you know, seeing Asian American people working with Asian American

01:26:46.120 - 01:27:04.310

people, but I consider myself as a different individual having different identity with Asian American people. It's really great that you had that opportunity to meet your,

01:27:04.310 - 01:27:13.750

like, Japanese community here. Yes, yes. Yeah, it's been fun. Yeah, it's been great. Sort of segueing into, like, more of your identity.

01:27:14.050 - 01:27:30.510

What do you feel the most proud of? About myself? [AR: Yeah.] Hmm. But personally? Personally, professionally, like, whatever comes to mind.

01:27:31.590 - 01:27:48.440

Okay. Being as a single, I don't have any, you know, family here. All my families are in Japan. If I have a family, you know, if I have a kid or

01:27:48.440 - 01:28:05.600

something, that might be different. But since I don't have, you know, my kids or anyone. Only thing I–I'm proud of, but at the same time I'm feel useless is my PhD degree.

01:28:09.630 - 01:28:25.920

Was because then I had to suffer so much and that's the, you know, tangible thing I can see. But at the same time, I'm not sure how much I'm using it. So visually

01:28:25.920 - 01:28:42.190

or for my time commitment and also my, all my mental, physical, personal commitment PhD degree. But at the same time, I feel useless too.

01:28:42.580 - 01:28:58.600

So let me think something better, yeah, but living in–living in the U.S. by myself, supporting by myself is probably my biggest–biggest thing I am proud

01:28:58.600 - 01:29:15.670

of. Yeah. Do you still celebrate any of the festivals that you celebrated while you were still in Japan? Yes—yeah. End of year and New Year's

01:29:17.200 - 01:29:32.550

is—are the biggest, you know, festival, biggest holidays for Japanese, so I try to do—although I don't cook, you know, for the special food for, you know, New Year's Day.

01:29:32.550 - 01:29:47.100

But I try to get together with my Japanese friends so that we can have some more Japanese atmosphere that, you know, end of the the year celebration and New Year's, you know, relaxing, you know, sharing time with

01:29:47.100 - 01:30:01.360

family. Yeah. So yeah. Every year pretty much, you know, I try to celebrate. I celebrate with my Japanese friends at the end of the year, end of the year and New Year's.

01:30:02.770 - 01:30:12.280

Sounds like a lot of fun. How do you stay in touch with those still in Japan? Do you travel back often? Yes. For sure once a year.

01:30:12.310 - 01:30:28.450

If I didn't have any, you know, now that I don't have any visa issue, but, before, you know, green card, getting a green card, I had a visa issue so that I couldn't go home, like, for five years. But other than that, I–I go

01:30:28.450 - 01:30:40.600

home, every year—every summer. If I can stay there whole summer, I did. If I have a job in the US, I couldn't. But other than that, I stayed, you know, at home,

01:30:40.600 - 01:30:57.090

talk to my parents during the summer–summer break. That's great. What are some of your, like, hobbies and activities outside of your career? Oh. I, well,

01:30:58.410 - 01:31:15.750

I used to go to gym, not anymore, but I like dance. Watching dance, and I–I like dancing too. So I went to gym. When I went to gym, I–I really enjoyed Zumba. And I love watching musicals.

01:31:15.750 - 01:31:33.600

I watched so many, I couldn't even count like that. I'm really into musicals, and now that I started playing pickleball, which is my new hobby. Yeah, but I like walking outside, too.

01:31:34.020 - 01:31:47.940

Yeah. So whenever I have time during the semester, it's hard. But whenever I have time, like, you know, during breaks, I try to get get out and walk around. I like, you know, hiking, trekking those things.

01:31:50.620 - 01:32:03.490

Sounds great to just, like, de-stress after work. Yes, yes. And also, you know, I sit a lot and, you know, I–I sit too-too long, so I try to, you know, walk around.

01:32:06.400 - 01:32:20.350

We're almost near the end of the interview, so is there anything that you would like to share that we have not covered in this interview? Some point I thought about something, but probably

01:32:20.350 - 01:32:41.980

not... Let me think, did I answer

01:32:41.980 - 01:32:55.630

completely? I'm a bit anxious. Was–was my explanations good enough? Yes, absolutely. If there's anything you'd like to explain, more like,

01:32:55.630 - 01:33:22.890

by all means, go ahead. No, no, not really, I really—well, no, I–I just wanted to add I like—well, I mean, obviously, I mean, I've been here

01:33:22.890 - 01:33:41.820

for, you know, a little less than 20 years and I've been enjoying living in the US so much and probably one thing I wanted to add, you know, for cultural thing is probably as a, especially as a single Japanese

01:33:41.820 - 01:33:59.250

woman after a certain age, living in Japan is–is hard, even we have a career. So, for example, my friends, you know, working, have specific, career

01:33:59.310 - 01:34:19.670

specific status, you know, the position. That they worked really hard, but at the same time they told me if they were men, everything could've been a lot more easier,

01:34:19.670 - 01:34:35.550

but I didn't feel the same way. I—well, living in the US was hard because, you know, I had to take care of the things, like, you know, my status things or, you know,

01:34:35.550 - 01:34:52.500

my moving or, you know, from small thing to big things I had to do deal with everything by myself. Of course, I can, you know, get help from my friends or, you know, school or, you know, many people, but at the same

01:34:52.500 - 01:35:11.780

time, I had to be independent and I had to deal with things by myself—that was hard, but from the social view. In Japan, it's hard to live, especially a certain age with a career

01:35:11.780 - 01:35:28.420

women. It's—it seems really hard. In that sense, I'm lucky, then, after, you know, certain years of living in the U.S., I feel more comfortable living in the U.S.

01:35:28.420 - 01:35:45.450

because of that social pressure, I think. That's what I found living in the U.S., so both, you know, tougher side, better side, you know, positive—more positive side that I

01:35:45.450 - 01:36:02.180

really appreciate and enjoying. Also like, you know, I like living in here. It's probably, yeah, something I wanted to add.

01:36:04.310 - 01:36:15.960

I'm glad you had this, like, great experience here. You didn't have to face that. Yeah, it's been great. So with that, I would like to conclude our interview today.

01:36:15.990 - 01:36:24.960

Thank you so much for talking. Yeah, no problem. I hope I could do, you know, I could have done better, but, you know. Yeah, I hope this is good enough.

01:36:25.800 - 01:36:35.220

It was amazing. I really enjoyed learning more about your story, and I appreciate that you took the time to share with us. Oh, yeah. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you for interviewing me.