Language Faculty

Kunihiko Homma

Language Faculty, Japanese Language
khomma@ucsd.edu 

WI25 Office Hours: T/Th 2:30-3:00 and/or By appointment

NTPLLN RWAC A&H Bldg. Room 641

Kunihiko Homma holds a M.A. in Japanese Linguistics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research focuses primarily on Japanese sociolinguistics, with a particular interest in the ideology of Japanese society and individuals' actual language practices. He started his language teaching career as a high school teacher in Japan, followed by an instructor at various schools in the U.S. Before joining UC San Diego, he taught at University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Hawaii at Manoa, University of California, Los Angeles, the International Christian University in Japan, and other university courses of Japanese. Through his Japanese language teaching, he aims to show students that they are connected to many people and things in society. He enjoys sharing such a wide variety of connections to society and learning with his students.

Minori Inada

Language Faculty, Japanese Language
miinada@ucsd.edu

WI25 Office Hours: T/Th 11:30 – 12:00 and by appointment

NTPLLN RWAC A&H Bldg. Room 648

Minori Inada has earned a B.A. in Japanese Studies, specializing in Second Language Acquisition, from Nanzan University in Japan, and earned her M.A. in Japanese Linguistics and Pedagogy from University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has been teaching Japanese at UW-Madison since 2010 and later at University of Minnesota, before joining UC San Diego in 2016. Minori is interested in modern teaching and learning approaches, including content-based language learning and integrated performance assessments, and she has been speaking at conferences about these topics for the past few years. Minori is passionate about language and culture learning, engaging and interactive teaching styles, and her greatest joy is to be part of her students’ learning journey.

Naoki Iwamoto

Language Faculty, Japanese Language
niwamoto@ucsd.edu

WI25 Office Hours: T/Th T 2:15-2:45, Th 11:15-11:45 and by appointment

NTPLLN RWAC A&H Bldg. Room 637

Naoki Iwamoto received her M.A. in Japanese Language Education from J.F. Oberlin University in Tokyo, Japan. She has an especially strong interest in the motivational factors that promote the long-term learning of Japanese language learners. In addition to UC San Diego, she has taught Japanese courses at several universities in Thailand, Japan, and the U.S., including Sophia University in Tokyo, the University of North Texas, Vassar College, and the University of Memphis. She enjoys teaching and interacting with her students and loves to learn something new from and with them in every class. In her free time, she enjoys surfing and exploring new cuisines.

Sachiko Kamioka

Language Faculty, Japanese Language
skamioka@ucsd.edu

WI25 Office Hours: T/Th 1:00-1:30 and by appointment
NTPLLN RWAC A&H Bldg. Room 643

Sachiko Kamioka joined the Japanese Studies Program in 2017. She also teaches at the School of Global Policy and Strategy. She holds an M.A. in Japanese Pedagogy from the University of Oregon and has taught Japanese for nearly ten years. Between 1998 and 2010, She worked for the Center for Applied Second Language Studies (CASLS) at the University of Oregon, one of the fifteen Language Resource Centers funded by the U.S. Department of Education including three years as an assistant director. At CASLS, she has lead numerous grant projects in assessment and curriculum development. Here at UC San Diego, she enjoys being in a classroom and helping each student to discover the joy of learning a new language and culture.        

Rie Maruyama

Language Faculty, Japanese Language
rimaruyama@ucsd.edu

WI25 Office Hours: T/Th 12:40-1:25 and by appointment

NTPLLN RWAC A&H Bldg. Room 634

Rie Maruyama holds a Ph.D. in Japanese Linguistics from the University of Arizona. Before joining the Japanese Studies Program at UC San Diego in 2017, she taught Japanese at various institutions, including the University of Kansas, the University of Arizona, Summer Courses in Japanese at the International Christian University in Tokyo, and the Middlebury Japanese School. She loves learning about her students' motivations for learning Japanese and helping them archive their goals and dreams. In her spare time, she enjoys visiting national parks and cooking. 

Mayumi Mochizuki McKee

Language Faculty, Japanese Language
mmckee@ucsd.edu

WI25 Office Hours: M 11:00-12:00 (Zoom only) or by appointment

NTPLLN RWAC A&H Bldg. Room 645

Mayumi Mochizuki McKee joined the Japanese Studies Program at UC San Diego in 1996. She received a M.A. in Japanese from the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures at University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has taught extensive levels of the Japanese language ranging from first year to graduate school. Her previous teaching experiences include the Department of Engineering at UW-Madison, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Michigan State University, and the Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies (currently Global Policies and Strategies) at UC San Diego. She is passionate about teaching the Japanese language and culture, and does so in hopes of helping students enrich their future lives and careers. She enjoys the outdoors, such as hiking and camping in national parks, as well as watching gymnastics and figure skating.

Kayoko Ross

Language Faculty, Japanese Language
kfross@ucsd.edu

WI25 Office Hours: T/Th 2:05-2:50 and/or appointment

NTPLLN RWAC A&H Bldg. Room 635

Kayoko Fujita Ross holds a B.A. in English and American Literature from Tsuda College, Tokyo Japan and a M.A. in Japanese from University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Before joining the Japanese Studies program at UC San Diego, she taught extensive levels of Japanese (1st year to graduate) at various institutions, including University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and Portland State University. Her research interest is in Japanese sociolinguistics. She is passionate about teaching Japanese language and cultures, enjoys interacting with students and helping them to grow. Aside from teaching, she spends her free time with her family and two cats, reading books, gardening and hiking.

Kyoko Chen Sato

Language Faculty, Japanese Language
k1sato@ucsd.edu

WI25 Office Hours: M 11:00-12:00 (Zoom only), Th 2:10-2:40 (in person) or by appointment
NTPLLN RWAC A&H Bldg. Room 640

Kyoko Chen Sato joined the Japanese Studies Program in 2004.  She received a M.A. in Linguistics from the University of Washington, and a Ph.D. in Japanese Language and Pedagogy from the University of Oregon.  Before joining the Japanese Studies Program at UC San Diego, she taught Japanese at the University of Washington, the University of Oregon, and International Christian University. Besides teaching, she has participated in creating a textbook series for elementary school children, “Jan-Ken-Pon: Japanese for Kids to Play” at the University of Oregon and participated in AP Japanese syllabus review as a senior reviewer for two years. She enjoys teaching all levels of Japanese language and culture and helping students grow academically and personally. She loves taiko (Japanese drum) performances and is a big fan of Asayake Taiko at UC San Diego.

Junko Tokuda Simpson

Language Faculty, Japanese Language
jtsimpson@ucsd.edu

WI25 Office Hours: T 11:30-12:00, Th 11:00-11:30 and by appointment
NTPLLN RWAC A&H Bldg. Room 638

Junko Tokuda Simpson joined UC San Diego in 2015. She holds a doctoral degree in Instruction and Curriculum Leadership from the University of Memphis. Through her career, she has taught all levels of Japanese language courses. Before joining UC San Diego, she taught at the University of Memphis, Mississippi College, and Universidad Internacional in Mexico. Her research interests are pedagogy for language learning, technology integration in language education, and material development. She designed and developed video learning materials to implement flipped classroom models in the first-year series at UCSD. She also created Kanji learning videos and a Kanji App to support students’ learning. She is one of the authors of the online textbook “Monty’s Bridge to Tomorrow” (2014) and wrote a book chapter in “Social Networking Approach to Japanese Language Teaching” (2021). In 2017, she received the Hamako Ito Chaplin Memorial Award for Excellence in Japanese Language Teaching. She was the president of the Teachers of Japanese in Southern California in 2018-2019 and 2021-2022, and has been involved in activities with the American Association of Teachers of Japanese to support and enrich Japanese language education in the United States. She truly enjoys interacting with her students to be a part of their academic and personal development. In her free time, she enjoys traveling to new places and surfing at beautiful beaches in San Diego.

Izumi Takeda

Language Faculty, Japanese Language
itakeda@ucsd.edu

WI25 Office Hours: M 10:20-10:50a(Zoom only), T/Th 11:00-11:30a
NTPLLN RWAC A&H Bldg. Room 632

Izumi Takeda holds a M.A. in Japanese Language Teaching Practice from Akita International University, Japan. She has been teaching the "first year Japanese" and "Japanese for Professional Purposes." Before joining the Japanese Studies program at UC San Diego, she taught beginning level to advanced level at several universities in Japan. She had also taught the annual Intensive Summer Japanese course for the JET program in Akita prefecture for six years. Aside from teaching she has been high involved with Teachers of Japanese in Southern California (TJSC) and has served as Chief Editor, Vice President, Co-President and adviser. In addition, she has organized various community service projects every year to help promote diversity and to contribute to the Japanese community in San Diego. She hopes that students can gain useful knowledge and communication skills from Japanese class and apply them to their future work/life.

Yuko Tipton

Language Faculty, Japanese Language
ytipton@ucsd.edu

WI25 Office Hours: M 11:30-12:30 (Zoom only) and by appointment
NTPLLN RWAC A&H Bldg. Room 648

Yuko Tipton holds a B.A. in Spanish from Sophia University in Tokyo and a M.A. in Teaching of Japanese from San Francisco State University. Before joining the Japanese Studies program at UC San Diego, she taught both Japanese and Spanish at various levels across California. She loves to see students grow both academically and personally through their learning of Japanese. In her spare time, she enjoys yoga, walking, and traveling.