BA, Oberlin College, 2010, History

Japan colonized the island of Taiwan from 1895-1945. During this period, the colonial administration set up the first modernized education system on the island, which emphasized learning the Japanese language at the expense of the students' native Chinese language. The government espoused ideals of equality between the Taiwanese and the Japanese that extended to equal opportunity in schooling and in the work place. However, in reality the Japanese colonial government discriminated against the Taiwanese, and this manifested itself within all levels of the education system. The Japanese harbored racist attitudes against the Taiwanese, and were reluctant to provide opportunities for higher education that would lead to full intellectual development. Even though there was a group of elite Taiwanese who had been assimilated into Japanese society to a large degree, the Japanese government still distrusted them and did not consider them as fully Japanese. The case of Japan as colonizer yielded interesting comparisons with the cases of Britain and France, and sheds light on the nature of imperialism and of the enterprise of colonial education. Under the colonial administration, Taiwanese language and culture was marginalized, and this phenomenon continued under the Chinese Nationalist regime. Today, the Taiwanese government continues its efforts to promote Taiwanese language and culture in the education system.

Committee: Emer O'Dwyer (Advisor); Suzanne Gay (Committee Member); Ann Sherif (Committee Member); David Kelley (Committee Member) Subjects: Education History; History

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2009, ED Teaching and Learning (Columbus campus)

This dissertation examines the sociocultural contexts in which elementary students of Japanese heritage experience their being/becoming Japanese diasporic subjects. By utilizing a practitioner research approach, the study explores the unique experiences, perspectives, and needs of Japanese elementary students who were being raised in the U.S. I conducted the research in Sakura Japanese School, a Japanese supplementary language/culture school in the U.S. where I worked as a teacher.My research suggests that Sakura Japanese School functioned as a community of practice with the local goal of affirming Japanese identity. In the school, my students were learning about Japanese language and Japanese curricular contents to recognize what Japanese culture meant. The findings of my research also demonstrate how the students were learning to be/become Japanese subjects who would become successful subjects as legitimate participants in Japanese society. This study reveals that the students were not receiving adequate support and guidance in making sense of their uniquely hybrid experiences and of who they were in the U.S. It points out that the students' bicultural or multicultural identities were not being accounted for in the school. The study also describes how the process of planning and teaching in culturally relevant ways is complex and full of contradictions. Although I shared a Japanese heritage with my students, this research helped me recognize that our common ethnicity did not necessarily qualify or prepare me to teach in culturally relevant ways. Overall, this research suggests that educators need to acknowledge culture as a complex social phenomenon. It argues that when we utilize a narrow notion of culture in educating students about heritage and identity, we marginalize the multiple ways of being/becoming and knowing.

Committee: Binaya Subedi PhD (Advisor); Barbara Seidl PhD (Committee Member); Laurie Katz PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Education

Bachelor of Arts, Wittenberg University, 2019, East Asian Studies

This paper analyzes the current status of sexual education in Japan by comparing the quality and content of Japan's sexual education to the United State's sexual education, how views on sexuality in Japan have shifted from the Tokugawa Period into present-day, what progresses and hindrances have been made in the field of sexology, and, ultimately, how this is affecting Japanese children, teens, and young adults. Japanese sex education curricula are often limited both in scope and duration compared to the United States. The inefficacy of Japanese sex education is evident in increasing rates of teen pregnancy, abortion, and sexually-transmitted diseases.

Committee: Shelley Chan (Advisor); Terumi Imai (Committee Member); Mary Zuidema (Committee Member) Subjects: Asian Studies; Education; Educational Sociology; Health Education; Sociology

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2019, East Asian Languages and Literatures

The purpose of this study is to determine why students at U.S. elite universities prefer to study abroad in Japan in short-term (8 weeks or less) programs rather than the traditional mid-length (more than 8 weeks but no more than 1 semester) and long-term (longer than 1 semester or quarter) programs. Although participation in study abroad among U.S. students to all destinations has increased by approximately 45% over the last decade, almost all of the increase comes from short-term programs. Conversely, mid-length and long-term programs have experienced steep declines in enrollment, dropping from 41% of total number of students studying abroad to just 36.6% and from 5.3% to just 2.4%, respectively, over the same period. The decrease in enrollment is a problem because extended participation and experience in the foreign country where the language is spoken and culture practiced aids the journey to high cultural and linguistic competency in a foreign language and culture (Davidson, 2010; Dwyer, 2004; MacAloon, 2008; Medina-Lopez-Portillo, 2004; Kehl and Morris, 2008; Zorn, 1996). Using a mixed-methods approach, 112 1st- and 2nd-year Japanese-language students at elite U.S. universities and 22 Japanese-language instructors were surveyed on the study abroad decision process, followed by seven interviews with respondents who volunteered to participate in the subsequent qualitative phase. Study findings clearly show that Japanese-language students at elite U.S. universities (a) have a strong interest in studying abroad in Japan, (b) mainly wish to study abroad to improve their Japanese-language skills and gain proficiency in the Japanese culture, and (c) are hesitant to study abroad in Japan in mid-length and long-term programs because they fear they lack time in their undergraduate curriculum and worry that appropriate courses needed for an on-time graduation are unavailable abroad. Importantly, no significantly statistical difference emerged between science, technology, (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Mari Noda Ph.D. (Committee Co-Chair); Xiaobin Jian Ph.D. (Committee Co-Chair); Charles Quinn Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Asian Studies; Education; Foreign Language; Sociology

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2016, East Asian Languages and Literatures

This dissertation explores the construction and effects of the notion of “native speaker,” on teachers, mostly graduate teaching associates, in a Japanese language program at a large university in the American midwest. Specifically, it attempts to answer the following two research questions: (1) How do language teachers and students of Japanese in this program perceive native and nonnative language teachers? and (2) How does the iconic construct of “native speaker” affect the language teachers of Japanese in this study? Both quantitative and qualitative data have been collected from teachers and students of Japanese, and for the purpose of comparison, Chinese, using a triangulation approach that combines survey questionnaires (N=593) with interviews (10 hours of audio recordings) and observations (80 hours of video recordings). Major quantitative findings from the survey data collected from teachers and students of Japanese and Chinese are as follows: (1) language students, in comparison to their teachers, assumed native speakers to have more specific and idealized characteristics; (2) language students and teachers indicated that they preferred or expected their students to prefer native-speaking teachers of Japanese and Chinese than nonnative-speaking teachers; (3) native speakers of Chinese and Korean were found to have more specific and idealized characterization of “native speaker” and a stronger preference for native-speaking teachers; (4) native speakers of English who are ethnically Asian had a weaker tendency to prefer either native or nonnative-speaking teachers; (5) those who grew up speaking multiple languages had a stronger preference for nonnative-speaking teachers; (6) teacher participants expected their students to prefer both native- and nonnative-speaking teachers more than their students actually did; (7) learners of Japanese, in comparison to learners of Chinese, had a stronger preference for native-speaking teachers, and slightly lower prefe (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Charles Quinn Dr. (Advisor); Mari Noda Dr. (Committee Member); Keiko Samimy Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: Adult Education; Asian Studies; Education; Language; Language Arts; Multicultural Education; Multilingual Education; Teacher Education; Teaching

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), University of Dayton, 2011, Educational Leadership

This multiple case study examined corporate involvement in Japanese public elementary schools through 3 corporate programs. In 2005 the Basic Law of Food Education, Shokuiku Kihon Ho was enacted. This law promotes food education as a national movement and encourages food makers to become actively involved with the public sector to provide food education programs. Major food makers approached public elementary schools as part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities. Purposeful sampling was selected, and programs from 3 companies were identified as cases. This researcher conducted email interviews with 35 elementary school teachers and 3 company spokespersons to examine their motivations, implementations, advantages and disadvantages of the programs, benefits to the company, and changes in teachers' perceptions of the companies, if any. The findings first include sources, including governmental, from which teachers initially learned about the programs. Second, the primary reason for program use was food education. Third, the 3 corporate programs studied appeared to be very successful in obtaining publicity in the schools. Two out of 3 companies had their products present in the classroom and also gave their products as gifts. Fourth, teachers were satisfied with corporate programs because they gained professional knowledge, rich materials, and experience-based activities for children. Fifth, the major disadvantage was scheduling. Few teachers recognized that corporate programs effectively influenced the knowledge of teachers and children. Sixth, teachers' perceptions of the companies were positively changed after experiencing the programs. Teachers were impressed with professional knowledge and they tolerated corporate promotions. This study included implications: School policies and professional development are needed to address commercial activity and insure that the children's knowledge would be balanced.

Committee: Joseph Watras PhD (Committee Chair); C. Daniel Raisch PhD (Committee Member); Carolyn S. Ridenour EdD (Committee Member); Dean B. McFarlin PhD (Committee Member); Deron R. Boyles PhD (Advisor); Victor Kobayashi PhD (Advisor); Takao Kamibeppu PhD (Other); Kenta Nakamura PhD (Other) Subjects: Asian Studies; Business Community; Comparative; Educational Leadership; Elementary Education; Public Health

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2024, East Asian Languages and Literatures

The goal of this study is to contribute to the field of Japanese pedagogy by examining how Japanese native speakers and learners of Japanese as a foreign language with American cultural backgrounds take stances in discussions in Japanese. As stancetaking is a fundamental human behavior (Du Bois & Karkkainen, 2012; Iwasaki, 2015; Kiesling, 2022), learners of foreign languages inevitably experience stancetaking moments in the target culture. Investigating stancetaking in the context of cross-cultural discussions is meaningful because the ability to negotiate in multicultural environments is critical in a world that aims to cooperate with people from different cultures (Jian, 2021). Although how native speakers of Japanese express opinions and manage confrontational moments have been studied by a number of scholars (e.g., Watanabe, 1993; Mori, 1999; Noda, 2004), how learners of Japanese manage disagreements from the perspective of stance and stancetaking have not been investigated yet. This study explores how native speakers of Japanese and learners of Japanese at different proficiency levels negotiate stances when they manage disagreements. The research question of this study is: How do native speakers of Japanese and learners of Japanese at various proficiency levels take stances when they face contrary opinions in discussions in Japanese? Based on the answers to this question, it further argues the difference between native speakers' and learners' stancetaking in discussions, the learners' acquisition process of stancetaking, and probes the effective ways to guide learners to take stances in discussions. To investigate stancetaking in discussions by Japanese native speakers and learners of Japanese, data were collected from one-on-one mock discussions, reflections of those discussions, and questionnaires from ten subjects: two native speakers and eight learners of Japanese who are in levels 3, 4, and 5, and beyond level 5 of Japanese courses in the university leve (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Mari Noda (Advisor); Xiaobin Jian (Committee Member); Michiko Hikida (Committee Member) Subjects: Foreign Language; Pedagogy; Sociolinguistics

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2024, East Asian Languages and Literatures

This thesis argues for the training of volunteer instructors working in Japanese language and culture classrooms across Japan to become able use a performance-based pedagogical approach with the aim of improving the overall linguistic and cultural competency of foreign-born residents living in Japan in the interest of having them become full and equal participant members of their local communities. The pedagogical approach supported in this thesis seeks to directly connect the methods being practiced in Japanese language and culture classrooms in local communities to the ultimate aims of helping foreign-born residents become participant members of their communities as stated by the Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC), among others (MIC, 2020; Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), 2023; Agency for Cultural Affairs (ACA), 2019). To accomplish this, this thesis will offer a model for a specific training workshop in which volunteer instructors can be introduced to and given example models of a performance-based approach to acquiring linguistic and cultural competency based off of the Performed-Culture Approach (PCA) (Walker & Noda, 2000), and in which volunteer instructors can be given opportunities to practice participating in performance-based lessons themselves, gaining first-hand experience and receiving detailed feedback from a presenter experienced in this pedagogical approach. The performance-based pedagogical approach proposed here aims specifically to address the underlying cultural and social assumptions of the learner and aims to afford interactional opportunities between the learners and instructors, which is understood to be necessary for their socialization into the local ways of behaving and communicating. Through lessons based around identifying the underlying elements of context (see Appendix A) that inform proficient speakers in combination with active emulation of video models, volunteer inst (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Mari Noda (Committee Member); Etsuyo Yuasa (Advisor) Subjects: Adult Education; Asian Studies; Bilingual Education; Education; Education Philosophy; Education Policy; Educational Theory; Language; Pedagogy; Sociolinguistics; Teacher Education

MAE, Otterbein University, 2021, Education

The whole purpose of this project is to examine the Japanese language learners' reactions to Performed Culture Approach (PCA) and Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL). For this research, the participants were undergraduate students in Elementary Japanese language courses. PCA is a language learning approach based on experiential learning, and students are asked to perform in a class. PCA has ACT classes which students are asked to perform, and FACT classes which have explanations and discussion about the grammar points. COIL can create opportunities for the students to interact with people who are living far away using online platforms. The COIL project can be fitted in PCA nicely as an additional activity during the course because COIL can provide an authentic situation in which students can actually use and practice the target language to communicate with Japanese students in Japan with the online format. The collected data was analyzed and discussed in this capstone to see the effectiveness and students' engagement in ACT class and the COIL project. The collected data indicated that the students' engagement level was high, and students felt ACT class was an effective classroom setting for Japanese language learning. And the COIL project could be a supplemental activity to make the Japanese course even stronger and more enjoyable for the learners. Even though the COIL project has the possibility of lower engagement for some students and lower effectiveness for language learning in the elementary level, the COIL project as a part of PCA is still very useful and effective as a part of the students' experience in the Elementary Japanese language courses. The Students could experience intercultural communication through the conversation with the Japanese peers, and the students could be motivated with enjoying the language itself.

Committee: Dee Knoblauch (Advisor); Mari Noda (Committee Member); Bethany Vosburg-Bluem (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Language

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2021, East Asian Studies

This thesis examines the interpretation and representation of Korea and Korean people through Korean art and material culture at the Cleveland Museum of Art (1914 – 1945). To meet these ends, this research focuses on contextualizing the museum and its Korean art collection through an intersectional lens that considers both Japanese colonial and Western hegemonies. This contextualization reveals how the purposes of the modernist, universal survey museum and the hermeneutics of Japanese colonial historiography of Korea and Eurocentric Orientalism incorporated the ways that Euro-Americans appropriated Korean material culture into the museum to understand Korean civilization and people, thus reproducing Japanese colonial hegemony over Korea and validating Western colonial-imperial hegemonies generally. Based on articles from The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art and other primary sources, Korea typically occupied a position under Japan in the museum's iconographic program. Similarly, museum professionals at CMA, such as Langdon and Lorraine D'O. Warner, were directly involved with the Japanese colonial apparatus in Korea, and admired its colonial efforts. I argue that this resulted in the double Orientalization of Korea, as such researchers adapted Japanese colonial knowledge about Korean material culture for the purposes of Western enlightenment, resulting in Korea becoming both the West's and Japan's inferior Other in the museum space.

Committee: Pil Ho Kim (Advisor); Dana Carlisle Kletchka (Committee Member); Sooa Im McCormick (Committee Member) Subjects: Art Education; Art History; Asian Studies; History; Industrial Arts Education; Museum Studies; Museums

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2019, East Asian Languages and Literatures

This dissertation explores ways that home institutions —educational institutions that send their students to affiliated universities— can provide pedagogical support to maximize the learning experience of U.S. undergraduate students during yearlong education abroad (EdA) programs in Japan. The results of this dissertation suggest several features that are key to pre-EdA training. The most crucial is repeated experiential practice on inter-personal negotiations toward co-constructing a meaningful Third Space (Jian & Walker, 2017) that entails raising sensitivity to style-shifting strategies. Group, rather than individualized, format better maximizes the opportunities for negotiation. Also useful would be opportunities to hear the experience of students who have just returned from a yearlong EdA in Japan, focusing on their experience (or lack) of network building. The need for repeated practice entails that training occurs over a duration of time, such as a semester. The first phase of this research examined difficulties in building intercultural relationships that American students and local Japanese students experience in a short-term EdA program in Japan. Data collected through interviews and observation suggest that the two groups have gaps in their expectations about speech style when interacting with each other. In particular, U.S. students struggled in shifting their speech from formal to casual. Based on these findings a pre-departure training regimen was devised for students participating in a yearlong EdA program in Japan. The training focused on style-shifting skills to develop a relationship-building persona in a Japanese college setting. The second phase of the study investigated the outcomes and process of learning in yearlong EdA exchange programs. Of the seven undergraduate students who participated in this phase of the study, four went through the pre-EdA training, while the other three chose not to. Two proficiency tests and a microanalysis o (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Mari Noda (Advisor); Xiaobin Jian (Committee Member); Mineharu Nakayama (Committee Member); Quinn Charles (Committee Member) Subjects: Foreign Language; Linguistics

Master of Arts (M.A.), University of Dayton, 2018, Communication

Anime, a Japanese form of animation and film, has been globally popular for a period of time. This medium may have allowed cross-cultural learning among viewers through its Japanese cultural context. This study explores if there are indeed any cultural learning effects from consuming either subtitled or dubbed anime, the two common forms of audiovisual translation. Participants (n = 63) were students sampled from a Midwestern university and randomly assigned to three groups: control group, subtitled anime viewers' group, and dubbed anime viewers' group. Control group participants did not watch any anime, while the other groups watched one episode of anime with respect to the group they were assigned to. All participants completed the same survey, which was in the form of a knowledge test about Japanese culture. This study used a one-way analysis of variance to compare group differences in their average scores on the survey test. Analyses showed difference in cultural learning between subtitled anime viewers and anime non-viewers, with viewers scoring higher on the test. There are clear inferences that consuming a form of translated foreign media may enhance cross-cultural learning between different peoples. This study argues that globalized foreign media must be given more attention due to its pedagogical importance in terms of cultural communication and learning.

Committee: Samuel Wallace (Committee Chair); Jason Combs (Committee Member); Joseph Valenzano III (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Education; Mass Media

Bachelor of Arts (BA), Ohio University, 2014, Anthropology

In recent years, an increasing number of foreign students have been engaging in language and cultural immersion programs in Japan, raising issues of cross-cultural contact and exchange. Japan's enduring cultural nationalism produces an ethnocentric valuation of homogeneity, thereby affecting the ways in which Japanese natives engage with and respond to these students. This paper draws on two months of ethnographic research at two Japanese universities to examine how everyday, culturally embedded nationalism affects the experience, identity, and language instruction of western nonnative learners of Japanese with regards to the institution, the instructors, and the community around them. This discourse on issues surrounding the presence of foreign youth in a nationalistic society has application for discrimination reforms on the international level.

Committee: Haley Duschinski (Advisor) Subjects: Asian Studies; Cultural Anthropology; Educational Sociology; Foreign Language; Language; Linguistics; Pacific Rim Studies; Social Structure; Sociolinguistics; Sociology

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2007, Art Education

My dissertation, situated in a Foucauldian framework, begins with a view of visual culture as a discourse where knowledge, pleasure, and power of images intersect. This dissertation first argues that a depthless visual field is discursively formed in and through Japanese culture, which constitutes recurring themes and particularities of Japanese anime. Features of postmodernism, described by Jameson and Baudrillard, are significantly embodied in anime images. By examining three anime works, Cat Soup (2001), The Grave of Fireflies (1988), and Neon Genesis Evangelion (1996), my dissertation argues that anime demonstrates postmodern “depthlessness,” which questions former understandings of “representation." Second, my dissertation investigates how anime images generate a specific kind of pleasure, and how this pleasure offers anime otaku a chance to develop not an escape from ideological constructions, but new ways of creative production in the practitioners' own favor. By examining two anime works, Fooly Cooly (2005) and Revolutionary Girl Utena (1999-2001), I argue that anime images deliberately deploy (1) void signifiers, (2) bodily senses, (3) liminal conditions, and (4) taboos and prohibitive themes to generate visual pleasures that may function as resistance to regulatory power. Further, the pleasure of viewing anime empowers anime otaku to go beyond mere image consumption, to actively and constantly change, manipulate, and subvert anime images through practices. Anime otaku's pleasurable practices demonstrate de-assurance of their supposed identity and engender an imperceptible but playful politics that strays from the social orders in which they reside. The fundamental argument of my dissertation is that anime itself is a site of viewers' education about anime, and that anime as an alternative discourse empowers viewers, youth and adolescents in particular, to participate in creative practices that may generate an imperceptible politics in their own favor. Usin (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Jennifer Eisenhauer (Advisor) Subjects: Education, Art