Hello! I am a UK-based Japanese language teacher and researcher in applied linguistics. My research focuses on the verbal dimensions of individual-provider interactions in health and social care settings.
I was born in Kagoshima, Japan and grew up in a family of healthcare workers. After studying linguistics at Tokyo Woman’s Christian University, I worked for a software developer in Tokyo. Although I had always nurtured a childhood dream of living overseas, in my twenties, I was far too busy with long hours of work, and the years went by rather quickly.
In 2013, I attended a renowned Institut Villa Pierrefeu in Montreux, Switzerland, to study international protocol. The year after that, I resumed my stay in Switzerland to study with them further. There, what fascinated me the most was the sessions on intercultural communication. I learnt more about my own culture as well as many other cultures, which opened my mind to diverse viewpoints.
In 2016, I completed MA in applied linguistics at University of East Anglia in the UK. The following year, integrating my experiences with a new direction, I started to pursue health communication for my doctoral research at UEA. My PhD was completed in October 2020, and the work was published as a monograph in 2022.
I have been working as a Japanese language teacher in a UK higher education sector since 2017. I really enjoy teaching and sharing my experiences with many students. When I was in Japan, I learnt Kimono dressing, tea ceremony, and Japanese and Western floral arrangements, as well as a wide range of traditions and customs, which I then started to convey in international contexts. In my Japanese lessons, cultural and linguistic features are very important to me.
For my research, I use qualitative methodologies, interactional sociolinguistics, ethnography, discourse analysis, and thematic analysis to look at real-life interactions and individuals’ experiences.
My blog has been devoted to sharing a casual journal about the Japanese language and culture and my teaching and research. I also love cooking, baking and writing recipes.
Thank you for visiting my blog.
Katie