Yoshiko Paris(パリス 佳子)
Program Director

    おめでとうございます(Omedetou-gozaimasu) / Congratulations!

    I am excited to welcome all the participants to the Japanese Academy in Summer 2021. I am a native of Toyama prefecture and I am passionate about teaching the Japanese language. I love dogs, cooking Japanese food, watching Anime, Detective Dramas series (Have you watched Poirot? I love it!) and SF shows.
    Now, a little bit about my academic background.  I taught English and Japanese at the Toyama University of International Studies (TUINS) High School, I studied Global and Intercultural Studies at Ferris University in Japan, and I earned a Teacher’s certificate at Nihon University. I am currently in a program of Master of Art in  Foreign Language Teaching at Michigan State University and will be graduating this Summer.  Presently, I teach elementary Japanese and advanced Japanese at Randolph-Macon College.  During this program, I will be a bridge between the participants and Japan, with the sincere hope for students to cultivate an educational journey that will allow them to grow more well-rounded and discover a passion for Japanese studies.

    I am looking forward to meeting all of you soon!!
    いっしょにたくさん思い出を作りましょう！Let's make lots of memories together!
Kyle Maclauchlan
Lead Teacher

    Hello, everyone! I’m sure you are excited to join this year’s Japanese Academy, and we are all excited to meet you. My name is Kyle Maclauchlan. I lived in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan for 11 years. Now, I want to share my love of Japan with students here in Virginia. I hope that the academy will encourage and empower you as you experience Japan’s language and culture.
    While in Japan, I taught English at Miyagi Gakuin University, became a nationally recognized author, and was the first English speaking radio announcer for Japanese Professional Baseball. My hobbies were singing in a rock band, and eating as many kinds of ramen as I could find. Every day in Japan, I felt that speaking the language opened doors to wonderful opportunities for me – chances to try new things, go to new places, learn fascinating information, and meet amazing people.
    There is a saying in Okinawan dialect: いちゃりばちょーでー！ It means, “Meet once, and we are family.”  I hope that our time together in the academy will offer us all an opportunity to build bonds of friendship. After all, that is what language is all about – building bridges through communication and understanding.
    Once again, welcome to the academy!

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Mami Ichikawa
Teacher

    みなさん！Welcome to Virginia Governor’s Language Academy‼
    My name is Mami Ichikawa. The first thing I would like to say to you is, "Thank you so much for having interest in Japanese language and culture!”
 I am from Saitama Prefecture and have taught Japanese at the University of Macau, Latrobe University in Australia, Soka University in Japan and GWU. My hobbies are karaoke, volleyball, watching manzai and comedy, solving riddles such as escape games, and baking!
    Japan has a very interesting and unique culture, and a beautiful language. I would like more people to go to Japan, so I'd like to teach you the situations and expressions that one might come across when one actually goes to Japan. I am looking forward to meeting passionate students of Japanese language and culture!
Betty Brown
Teacher

Hello everyone, and welcome to the 2021 Japanese Academy! This is my first year teaching at The Academy and I am so excited! My name is Betty Brown and I teach Japanese at the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts (ASMSA). I have a Bachelor's degree in Japanese Education from Ball State University where I also studied German and Teaching English as a Second Language. I am currently working on a Master’s degree in Foreign Language Teaching through Michigan State University (with Paris Sensei!). Before I started teaching at ASMSA, I taught English in Germany through the Fulbright program. 

I am a huge nerd about Japanese history, particularly the time period between the Meiji Restoration and World War II. I also like knitting, baking, and hanging out with my two cats, Neville and Link. I am looking forward to working with you all this summer! 頑張りましょう！
Joey Upadhyay
Lead RA

Hello everyone! My name is Joey Upadhyay and I am the Lead RA this year! I am a sophomore at the College of William & Mary majoring in Linguistics and minoring in Japanese Studies. I have been studying Japanese for about 7 years now. I was a student at GJA in 2018, and served as an RA last year, too. Apart from Japanese, I also speak Spanish and Portuguese; Additionally, I am learning Japanese Sign Language (JSL) and Italian, among other languages. I also like playing video games like Animal Crossing, Project Diva, Pokémon, and Legend of Zelda. I’m really looking forward to meeting you all this summer! よろしくお願いします！
Sana Vien
RA
   
はじめまして！Hello everyone! My name is Sana Vien, and I’m going to be one of the academy’s Resident Assistants. I’m 20 and currently a rising third-year at the University of Virginia. I am in the process of declaring a double major in Biology and Japanese Language and Literature with a minor in Data Analytics. It's going on six years since I've started learning Japanese in high school, so feel free to ask me any questions about studying Japanese or the Japanese AP exam/class. I attended the Virginia Governor’s Academy in 2018 and worked with the academy last year as a Resident Assistant in 2020, and I am really fond of my memories from both years. During my free time, I like to do nail art, knit, crochet, and play video games. I almost exclusively play Nintendo games, but I've been into Hades recently. I look forward to sharing this experience with all of you! 楽しみにしています！(≧∇≦*)
Kristie Throckmorton 
RA

皆さん、こんにちは！はじめまして、クリスティです。Hello Everyone! It’s nice to meet you, I’m Kristie! I am a freshman at Randolph Macon College, and I am so excited to assist our Teachers and Director in helping you all on your Japanese Language and Culture Journey! I am an Arts Management (Music) and an International Studies (Asia) double major, double minoring in Japanese and Asian Studies. I have always been around music and it is one of my greatest passions. I play multiple instruments and I absolutely love to listen to all kinds of music. My other passion is language! I studied Spanish in middle and high school and fell in love with learning languages. I began to study multiple languages by myself and am now able to speak at a beginning- intermediate level of multiple languages; I enjoy Korean and Japanese the most though! I also love to drink insane amounts of coffee and add sound effects to things! I am thrilled to be a part of this academy and I am so excited to help everyone learn Japanese and continue to learn myself!