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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 am little different background than other SENSEI & SENPAI in this academy. I have a wide range of career backgrounds. I am a REIKI Master and Teacher for half of my life and an Alternative medicine practitioner. I attended the 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 I met my husband in Guam). Since then, we 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. 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 Japanese calligraphy for 9+ years (because I was left-handed, my parents want to fix my hand habit, so, they put me in the school), and I hold a 7th-DAN degree in the art. I am a creative person! I am one of the staff of the U.S. ARMY War College International Fellow’s program last 11 years. I always enjoy making new friends from all over the world! I am 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 heritage of Japan with others. And I am very excited and happy to be part of “Virginia Governor’s 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” session through this program! Let’s begin to have a full of FUN together!! |
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Joseph Henares
Teacher Hello everyone, and congratulations on being accepted to this year’s Japanese Academy! My name is Joseph Henares, and I will be a teacher at the academy this summer. I am currently a Ph.D. Candidate at Princeton University, and my research focuses on modern Japanese philosophy and intellectual history. So if anyone is interested in philosophy or philosophy-adjacent subjects, whether Japan-related or not, please let me know! Additionally, some of my other Japan-related hobbies are singing karaoke and watching anime. I have been studying Japanese for the past 8 years, and over the course of this journey, I made progress by making a lot of mistakes. If I could give only one piece of advice from my experiences studying Japanese, it would be that the key to learning any language is persistence. It will be difficult sometimes, but keep going and don’t give up, and you will see improvement over time. However, in the process, you will need to make a lot of mistakes, and then learn from them. As a result, I’m a huge fan of promoting a positive and encouraging environment in the classroom. So don’t be afraid to make mistakes! That’s how learning happens. Looking forward to meeting all of you soon! よろしくお願いします！ |
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Joey Upadhyay
Teacher Hello everyone! My name is Joey Upadhyay and I am one of the Beginner class teachers this year! I am a rising senior at the College of William & Mary, double majoring in Linguistics and Japanese Studies. I have been studying Japanese for about 10 years now. I was a student at GJA in 2018, and served as an RA/TA the past two years. I'm super excited for the academy to be back to in-person after so long, and I'm even more excited to be teaching this year alongside Sana. 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 Animal Crossing, Project Diva, Pokémon, and Legend of Zelda, and I love listening to music (I have an embarrassing amount of CDs in my car). 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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Sana Vien
Teacher はじめまして！Hello everyone! My name is Sana Vien, and I’m going to be one of the teachers for the Beginner Class. I’m 21 and currently a rising fourth-year at the University of Virginia. I am currently studying Japanese Language and Literature as well as Biology. I started my Japanese language journey over seven years ago when I took it as a high school freshman. I attended the Virginia Governor’s Academy in 2018 and worked with the academy for the last two years as a Resident Assistant in 2020 and 2021, and I am really fond of my memories. Lately, I've been appreciating traditional Japanese literature and poetry. During my free time, I like to do nail art, knit, crochet, and watch small indie creators on YouTube or other platforms. I look forward to sharing this experience with all of you! 楽しみにしています！(≧∇≦*) |
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Kristie Throckmorton
RA 皆さん、こんにちは！はじめまして、私の名前はクリスティです。Hello everyone! It’s nice to meet you, I’m Kristie and I will be one of your RA’s and assisting with the beginner's class! I’m a rising junior at Randolph Macon College double majoring in Arts Management (Music) and Asian Studies with a minor in Japanese Studies. I was an RA last summer on the online format and had such a blast, so I am back again for the in-person academy this year and I couldn’t be more excited! I LOVE all things music. I enjoy playing any instrument with strings and I am constantly listening to music. When I’m not listening to music or watching videos related to it, I am spending time self-studying languages! I have been learning many languages for fun for several years, but I picked up Korean about 5 years ago and I am excited to study abroad in Korea this upcoming school year! In my discovery of my love of Korean language and culture I came across Japanese language and culture and have quickly become fascinated and excited to learn as much as I can about both languages. Another thing you should know about me is that I also love to drink insane amounts of coffee and make people laugh! I am thrilled to meet and work with you all at GJA this year! |
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Aislinn Hanako Niimi
RA 初めまして! Hi everyone! My name is Aislinn Hanako Niimi and I will be a Resident Assistant at the Academy this summer. I am a rising junior at Washington and Lee University, where I am double majoring in Classics and Japanese, and minoring in Cultural Heritage and Museum Studies. I love studying languages and cultures, and I am passionate about promoting Asian culture at my university. I have been studying the Japanese tea ceremony for over a year, and I am excited to bring this traditional art form to the Academy! My hobbies include reading (anything from novels, to manga, to Webtoons), watching anime, cooking, cosplay, dancing, and crafts! I'm excited to get to know y'all this summer! よろしくお願いします。 |
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Emily Argust
RA こんにちは皆さん！ 初めまして！ Hello everyone! My name is Emily, and I am going to be one of your RAs and will also be helping with the Intermediate Japanese class! I am a Junior at Randolph-Macon College double majoring in Archaeology and Asian Studies as well as double minoring in Japanese and Studio Art. I guess you could tell by the studio art minor, but I love art. I love all forms, but my favorites include painting and photography. I have always loved fashion and have recently gotten really into sewing and even made a jacket out of two pairs of old jeans. I’ve been studying Japanese for a little less than two years and am planning on studying abroad in Japan in the Spring of 2023! I am super excited to work with you all and learn lots about the Japanese language and culture together! Let’s work hard and have some fun! |
