I originally come from Japan, but have spent most of my adult life in the U.S. I received my BA in German Language from Purdue University in 1997 and completed my MA in Central Eurasian Studies with an emphasis in Finnish studies from Indiana University Bloomington in 2000. I have also studied at the University of Helsinki as a Rotary International Scholar 1990-1991. I received my Ph.D. in Central Eurasian Studies (major: Finnish linguistics, minor: anthropology) from Indiana University Bloomington in 2005. My doctoral thesis was entitled Investigating the Future of Finnish Congruency: Focus on Possessive Morphology, which dealt with language variation and change. I have previously worked as a translator, interpreter, teacher, and university instructor, among other jobs. Before I started working for Dalarna University in 2009, I taught Japanese language and culture at Purdue University for nine years.
I teach mostly specialized courses within the Japanese subject such as linguistics, cultural anthropology, and intercultural communication Additionally, I supervise and examine BA theses in these fields.
My research interests include socio- and applied linguistics, linguistic/cultural anthropology, identity development through intercultural exchange as well as multimodal analysis of intercultural communication.
