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Kyle Maclauchlan
Academy Director 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 my home state of 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, playing flute in the suzume festival, 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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Rie Hashimoto Bailey
Teacher みなさん、おめでとうございます！（Congratulations!）＆ようこそ（Welcome）Virginia Governor’s Language Academyへ!! My name is Rie Hashimoto Bailey. I am from Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. I have a slightly different background than other SENSEI & SENPAI in this academy. I have a wide range of career backgrounds. I have been a REIKI Master and Teacher for half of my life and I’m an Alternative medicine practitioner. I attended a professional international tourism college in Japan and the U.S. After graduation, I was an international travel coordinator and traveled all over the world. (That’s how I met my husband in Guam). Since then, we have lived in Spain, Washington State, Italy, and now Pennsylvania.(I speak Japanese, English, Spanish & Italian). We owned a bed & breakfast/Healing Retreat for 8 years in Washington state. Because of my B&B experience, I really enjoy cooking & eating GOOD FOOD!! Now I am preparing to publish my 1st cookbook! I trained in SHODO-Japanese calligraphy for 9+ years, and I hold a 7th-DAN degree in art. I have won awards and also had an exhibition at an art gallery in WA! I have been teaching SHODO at a Japanese martial art Dojo in Pennsylvania. I have also been one of the staff of the U.S. ARMY War College International Fellow’s program for the last 12 years. I always enjoy making new friends from all over the world! I am an assistant Scoutmaster of Boy Scouts of America in Pennsylvania and Italy. I have always enjoyed working with youth. I always have passion for sharing my Japanese heritage with others. And I am very excited and happy to be part of the Virginia Governor’s Japanese Language Academy as one of the SENSEI this summer! Because of my background, I hope you FEEL a “SENSE OF JAPAN” that uses all 5 senses within you with the “FACE TO FACE” sessions throughout this program! Let’s have a lot of FUN together!! |
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Joey Upadhyay
Teacher Hello everyone! My name is Joey Upadhyay and I am the Beginner class teacher! I graduated from the College of William & Mary, double majoring in Linguistics and Japanese Studies. I have been studying Japanese for over 10 years now. I was a student at The Governor's Japanese Academy in 2018, and have been on the academy's staff since 2020. Apart from Japanese, I also speak Spanish, Portuguese, and ASL; additionally, I am learning Japanese Sign Language (JSL), among other languages. As for hobbies, I like playing video games like Pokémon and Legend of Zelda, I like Sanrio (Hello Kitty, Gudetama, etc.) and I love listening to music. I’m really looking forward to meeting you all and helping out however I can! よろしくお願いします！ |
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Emma Grenfell
Teacher 初めまして！My name is Emma Grenfell, and I am so excited to be one of your teachers this summer. I just graduated from William and Mary with a BA in English, and I will be continuing my education at George Mason University this coming fall. I have grown up speaking the language, but I have been formally studying the language for a few years now in hopes of polishing my skills. My great love is books, but I also like to play piano or the bassoon, watch Japanese variety shows, or the occasional artistic attempt. The Japanese language and culture is so important to me, so I am really excited to share all of my knowledge with you. I cannot wait to make a ton of memories with you all, and I can’t wait to meet everyone! よろしくお願いします！ |
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Emily Argust
Lead RA 皆さんこんにちは！初めまして！My name is Emily Argust and I am going to be your lead RA for this years Governer's Japanese Academy! I was an RA in last year’s academy, so I am excited to be returning this year as well. I will also be returning to America as I have spent my spring semester abroad in Japan. I am a senior at RMC, double majoring in Archaeology and Asia Studies as well as double minoring in Japanese and Studio Art. I’m sure you could tell by the Studio Art minor but I love art. Painting and photography are my favorite mediums. I have been studying Japanese for about two and a half years and have learned and seen a lot thanks to my time spent in Japan. I look forward to meeting everyone and learning and sharing experiences with one another about Japan and its culture. Let’s all work hard and have a good time! |
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Anna Koubek
Resident Assistant Hello, Everyone! 初めまして！ My name is Anna Koubek and I am one of your RAs for this year's academy! I was a student like yourself in the academy during my junior year of high school. I started learning Japanese in 8th grade and have continued in college where I'm pursuing a minor at Virginia Tech. At VT I am a double major in Animation and Clinical Neuroscience. I am also a double minor in Russian and Japanese. A fun fact about me is that I have a pet bunny named Bunbun! My hobbies include playing tennis and the saxophone. I look forward to meeting each one of you and being a part of your language-learning journey! よろしくお願いします！ |
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Lauryn McMeans
Resident Assistant こんにちは！はじめまして。My name is Lauryn McMeans, and I will be one of your RAs and will be helping out with the Intermediate Japanese class. I used to be a student at this same language academy back in 2018, so I have experienced similar excitement and nervousness that comes with this new experience you all will have in a few weeks. I have studied Japanese since my time at GJA and throughout college. I just graduated from Randolph-Macon College with a Studio Art major and Biology and Japanese Studies minors. I studied abroad for a semester in Osaka prefecture last fall, and I would be so excited to share stories about my experience in Japan with you all. I’m an artist, so my hobbies include many artistic things, and I also enjoy being out in nature. I have loved Japanese culture since I was a kid, and I enjoy things like Studio Ghibli, Hokusai’s woodblock prints, and visual kei. I hope to make this learning experience a very positive one for you all! |
