Professional Background

Naomi is a Professor Emerita at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Since 1976 she taught Japanese language, linguistics and culture at UW-Madison in the Department of East Asian Languages and Literature (now, Dept. of Asian Languages and Cultures) until her retirement in 2018. During her tenure at UW-Madison, she served as Department Chair (1990-93; 2001-05; 2012-13). She also contributed to teaching Japanese in the U.S. as a board member and as the President of the Association of Teachers of Japanese (2004-2007). One of her many publications is a co-authored textbook, An Integrated Approach to Intermediate Japanese, first published in 1994, revised in 2008. Altogether the book went through 70 additional printings.

Education

Naomi holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from International Christian University (Tokyo) and a Ph.D. in Linguistics from the University of Michigan.

Connection to the JASWI Mission

Naomi has taught Japanese language and culture for 45 years and she has contributed to promoting a deeper understanding of Japan and the Japanese. She is excited to continue to contribute to Japan-U.S. relations through JASWI.

Personal Interests

In her free time, Naomi enjoys walking, gardening, reading, and working on various types of puzzles.

Fun Facts

Naomi was born in Hiroshima and grew up in Hiroshima and Tokyo. In 2020, she received the Order of the Sacred Treasure, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon (瑞宝中綬章), in recognition of “her outstanding efforts in Japanese language education and her contributions to Japan-U.S relations”.