The Cultural Highlights of Japan

Native-born Japanese Kazui Yabe graduated from Meiji University in Tokyo, then spent four months at Southern Illinois University in Illinois to hone her English skills before returning to Japan. Kazui is passionate about the distinctly Japanese theater of kabuki, known for the stylization of its drama and the elaborate makeup worn by its performers. She is friend with many of the actors and provides an insider’s look at life behind the scenes.

Yukiko Kawahara spent her childhood in Hiroshima and studied English and American literature at a local collage before traveling to the United States to perfect her English and further her education. In academia, Yukiko decided she wanted to see Japan from a non-Japanese perspective and chose Japanese history as her field of study. Before retiring in 2016, Yukiko was a professor of Japanese Studies with her principal areas of expertise being Japan’s language, popular culture, society, and history.

Kathleen Aoki majored in Latin American Studies, but an opportunity to teach English in Japan led her to discover her second home — Nagasaki. A twenty-five career at a major Japanese electronics manufacturer in Tokyo followed, where Kathleen learned the business culture of corporate Japan. During this time she married, raised a family and did her stint of PTA duty. With her kids almost grown, Kathleen decided to begin a career as an instructor making the most of her interest in travel and knowledge of Japan.

Michael was born in Switzerland and first came in contact with Japanese culture came through the martial arts Aikido and Iaido. He originally started to study Japanese calligraphy and later chanoyu to complement martial arts studies but became increasingly interested in tea over the years. After more than twenty years of experience, Michael sees chanoyu as a way of communication between people and ideas. The focus of his tea studies is not only to be a tea master, but to become a true tea person.

Kaho Shoji was born in Kyoto but raised in the Noto Peninsula on the Sea of Japan. Following her grandmother’s influence, Kaho is a practitioner of chado — the Japanese tea ceremony. Under her influence, Kaho also grew up with a broad interest in Japan’s traditional culture and is known to enjoy wearing a kimono, and visiting temples and shrines. In 2015, she moved from Ishikawa to her grandparents’ old home in Kyoto to further her cultural interests and begin training to be a travel group leader.

Junko Kawamura is the director of the Association for Spreading Noh Gaku and a professor at the Ikenobo Bunka University. Junko moved to Kyoto on her marriage to the late Nobushige Kawamura; the lead actor of the Kanze school of Noh drama. She has been involved with the management of the Kawamura Noh Theatre and of the Ladies’ Association for the Appreciation of Noh. As a passionate denizen of Kyoto, Junko has taken an important role in promoting traditional culture in the city.

Bill Steele first came to Japan in 1967 as an exchange student, when he spent one year studying Japanese language, history, religion, politics, and archaeology and was propelled to study history after getting a whiff of the Horyuji temple’s ancient air. Bill earned his PhD in Japanese history, writing his dissertation on the consequences of the Meiji Restoration of 1868, pursuing his interest in alternative narratives. In 1980, Bill began a tenure as a Japanese history professor at the International Christian University, retiring in 2018.

Jamie graduated from Macalester College in 2002 with a BA in Asian studies. The following year, he returned to work in west Japan to teach English and international relations. After four years working in Hyogo and Okayama Prefectures, he joined the Peace Boat as volunteer staff, teaching English and leading groups in the ports of call. He then received a master's degree in agriculture from the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology in 2012. Jamie and his wife live in the Kyoto countryside.

Takuya Ugajin was born in San Francisco. His family returned to Japan when he was a year old. He graduated from Waseda University in Confucian and Buddhist philosophy and also studied at China’s Guangdong University of Foreign Studies. He worked at one of Japan’s large trading companies. While running an exporting business dealing with agricultural equipment in Ethiopia, he developed an interest in growing crops himself, the basis of his extensive knowledge of flora. Back in Japan, Takuya began leading groups for Walk Japan.

Timon Screech was professor of the history of art at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London from 1991 to 2021, when he left the UK in protest over Brexit. He is now a professor at the International Research Center for Japanese Studies (Nichibunken) in Kyoto. Screech is a specialist in the art and culture of early modern Japan.

Theodore F. Cook, Ph.D is professor emeritus at William Paterson University. Ted has lived in many parts of Japan conducting research in Japanese social and cultural history, and been a senior research fellow at Tokyo University, Japan’s National Museum of History and Ethnography, and Kyoto’s International Research Center for Japanese Studies, as well as a visiting professor at Sophia University. His focus has been on war and society in early and modern Japan in comparative perspective.

Yuta Arai, born in Yokohama, moved with his family to San Francisco at the age of two, and lived in California up to early adulthood. In 2013, Yuta returned to Japan, and in 2017, he entered Tokyo’s Temple University to gain a qualification in the teaching of English. When not studying, he explored Japan by train, bicycle, and on foot. Yuta now works part-time as a translator specializing in the automotive industry, and as a mechanic for a professional Japanese auto racing team.

Ayaka Tsukamoto was raised in Yokohama. After high school, she pursued a degree in regional development and an additional certification in teaching history. Work and interests have taken her to many countries including India, Norway, Myanmar, and Uganda. In 2018, she studied Mandarin Chinese for a year in Taiwan. Ayaka was also an interpreter for the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics, and for engineers on a U.S. Navy ship in Yokohama. Ayaka is certified in Japanese calligraphy at the San-dan, master level.