I was born in Kagawa Prefecture, and graduated from Osaka University Graduate School of Language and Culture with a Ph.D. in language and culture. My specialties are Japanese language education and sociolinguistics. Before taking my present post in April 2014, I taught Japanese language in Indonesia and Taiwan, and worked at the International Student Center, Ibaraki University as an associate professor.

To address the question of what causes misunderstanding between speakers in cross-cultural communication, I have been researching the communication behavior of Japanese language learners and their awareness of language use. Language is more than a tool for sharing information; it also helps speakers build and adjust relationships with others. In this light, I am interested in elucidating how and with what awareness speakers use language in cross-cultural communication. With the increase of cross-border mobility of people with different cultural backgrounds, society is becoming more multilingual and multicultural, which increases the likelihood of problems related to language and communication. I hope to identify the causes of such problems and consider how we can solve them.

By becoming sensitive to “diversity,” we can broaden our perspectives in studying language and communication and teaching language. The criteria by which things are measured vary from person to person and from culture to culture. So I encourage you to always be open to different perspectives so that you can question what has been taken for granted in your study and graduate research activities.

Japanese language education, cross-cultural communication, multilingual and multicultural society