By Kiyono Fujinaga-Gordon, 2014 FUTI Global Leadership Award Recipient, Assistant Teaching Professor of Japanese Studies, Department of Languages, Cultures and Applied Linguistics
At Carnegie Mellon University, a world-renowned institution in science and technology, I teach Japanese language and culture to students whose primary fields are often computer science, robotics, and engineering. Many of them are not language majors and have never studied Japanese before—but they are deeply curious. Whether drawn by anime or aspirations for international careers, my students consistently demonstrate that language and culture learning has a meaningful place even in STEM-centered education.
CMU is one of the few institutions in the United States where Japanese language enrollment surpasses Spanish. This speaks volumes about our student body’s unique interests. Our Anime: Visual Interplay Between Japan and the World course fills almost immediately each semester, often with long waitlists. Similarly, our Elementary Japanese classes remain extremely popular, attracting students across disciplines. The alignment between CMU students’ curiosity and Japanese Studies creates an exciting environment for interdisciplinary learning and cultural inquiry.
I teach two types of courses that serve students at different learning stages: two general education classes—Anime and Introduction to Japanese Language and Culture—and a Japanese language sequence from Elementary to Advanced Japanese.
The gen-ed courses are open to all students regardless of language background. In the anime course, we explore how animated media reflects and shapes political memory, nationalism, and globalization. One student created a short film as her final project, which went on to win multiple international awards. I continued to mentor her through her senior honors thesis, which explores the intersection of Japanese humanities and WWII history. In Introduction to Japanese Language and Culture, students interrogate persistent myths—such as “Japanese people are inherently polite” or “Japanese is uniquely difficult to learn”—while examining how language reflects and reproduces social hierarchies. We center on marginalized communities in Japan, including Ainu, Okinawan, and LGBTQ+ populations, and critically reflect on identity, race, gender, and power.
What I love most about teaching Japanese language and culture at CMU is how it transforms students’ perspectives. The greatest joy of teaching Japanese language and culture at CMU is witnessing the moments when students’ perspectives shift dramatically. One student commented, “I enrolled thinking I would learn about Japanese culture, but through this class, I realized that culture is never monolithic—it is dynamic, layered, and sometimes even contradictory.” This kind of learning not only deepens their understanding of Japan but also prompts students to reflect on their own values and positionalities within a global society.
In Intermediate Japanese, I emphasize real-world communication and community engagement. Students write reflective essays in Japanese about their lives at CMU and in Pittsburgh and develop multilingual materials for local Japanese-speaking communities. For instance, students collaborate with UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh to create educational Japanese-language TV segments for pediatric patients. This project allows them to apply their language skills in meaningful ways that emphasize care, accessibility, and creativity—transforming them from classroom learners into community contributors.
Advanced Japanese focuses on critical reading, structured debate, and reflective writing. Students engage with editorials, essays, and current social issues in Japan while building the advanced vocabulary and analytical tools needed for intercultural literacy.
CMU students are remarkably driven. Some skip Elementary Japanese altogether, placing directly into Intermediate or Advanced Japanese after self-studying—often through anime. Their motivation and resourcefulness consistently impress me and show the power of independent learning when paired with guided academic support.
The challenges I’ve faced in this role have often been structural rather than pedagogical. Teaching language and culture in a tech-focused environment means constantly advocating for the value of the humanities, especially in spaces where language instruction is seen as supplemental rather than central. Additionally, many students arrive with essentialist understandings of Japan shaped by popular media, so it takes careful scaffolding to deconstruct stereotypes while preserving their enthusiasm. Another challenge has been ensuring that cultural education is not reduced to “surface-level facts” but approached critically and respectfully, which requires me to continuously adapt and design inclusive, student-centered materials. Despite these challenges, the rewards far outweigh the difficulties—especially when I see students not only excel in Japanese but grow as global citizens.
The FUTI scholarship played a pivotal role in launching my academic career—not only by providing essential funding, but by connecting me with a remarkable community of aspiring scholars and changemakers. My greatest takeaway from FUTI has been the strength of this network. I’ve been lucky to reconnect with fellow alumni in meaningful ways. In particular, Dr. Akitaka Yamada (FUTI 2013 awardee) and I will be collaborating on a language and culture documentation project in Miyakojima, Okinawa, where we aim to preserve an endangered local shamanic tradition. While we are both linguists, Dr. Yamada’s expertise in digital humanities will be an enormous asset. I also recently reconnected with a film director Minami Goto, who kindly helped me find a local recording studio in Kumamoto for my forthcoming elementary Japanese e-textbook. This project offers an opportunity to highlight the richness of rural Japan. These collaborations reflect the ongoing value of FUTI’s vibrant alumni network, and I look forward to many more connections and partnerships in the years ahead.
