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Founded upon the idea of "sustainable future," Osamu Abe is active in promoting environmental education in various sectors, raging from the government and schools, to NGOs and corporations. He is currently a member of the board of the directors of the Japan Environmental Education Forum (JEEF), a chair of the Japan Council on the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD-J), and a president of Japannese Society of Environmental Education. He is also a member of the Commission on Education and Communication (CEC) of the World Conservation Union (IUCN), and an associate member of the Science Council of Japan. |
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Masako Hiraga is fundamentally specialized in linguistics, and she is currently working on introducing approaches of intercultural communication and intercultural pragmatics to English language education. Her research interest also covers poetics and metaphor studies, and she has published a book entitled Metaphor and Iconicity: A Cognitive Approach to Analyzing Texts (Palgrave Macmillan) in 2005, based upon theoretical framework of cognitive linguistics and Peircian semiotics. Other contributions of hers can be found in Journal of Pragmatics, Cultural, Psychological, and Typological Issues in Congnitive Linguistics (John Benjamins, 1999), Semiotics around the World: Synthesis in Diversity (Mouton de Gruyter, 1997), Hyogen to Rikai no Kotobagaku (Minerva Shobo, 1996), and many others. |
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Yoko Nadamitsu specializes in intercultural communication studies. Her research interests include how and in what contexts cultural differences emerge through interactions and how they are perceived by the participants. She aims to study from various perspectives how communicative behavior and cultural elements (norms, values, identities, etc.) are interrelated, and how power relations and identities among participants are maintained and
transformed in the process of intercultural experiences. She is the author of many works such as "Similar or Different: The Chinese Experience of Japanese Culture” in Constituting Cultural Difference Through Discourse (Sage, 2001).
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Ken-ichi Noda is primarily specialized in American literature. Fully covering works of Romantics and Post-Romantics and the currently emerging genre called "nature writing," he is particularly interested in how literary works represent (or discursively construct) what we call "nature." He served as the dean of the Rikkyo Graduate School of Intercultural Communication (2005-2007), and he is also a former president of the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment in Japan (ASLE-Japan). He is the author of Shizen wo Kanjiru Kokoro: Nature Writing Nyumon (Chikuma Shobo, 2007) and Kokan to Hyosho: Nature Writing to wa Nanika (Shohakusha, 2003), and a co-author/editor of Ekkyo Suru Topos: Kankyo Bungakuron Jyosetsu (Sairyu Sha, 2004). |
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TAKANO Takako's main interest is around human-nature relationships and
a vision to a sustainable society linked to the issue. Her study
includes experiential education, place-based education, traditional
knowledge and cultural recognition of climate change, weaving various
disciplines such as geography, anthropology, philosophy, and sociology.
Her publication includes Connecting with place; Implications of
integrating cultural values into the school curriculum in Alaska
（Environmental Education Research, Vol.15, No.3, 2009, The power of
place and practices: Contemporary attempts in bonding with the land
among "traditional" societies (Connecting with the Essence:
Proceedings from the 4th International Adventure Therapy Conference,
Association for Experiential Education, 2009), A 20-year retrospective
study of the impact of expeditions on Japanese participants (Journal of
Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning, Vol.10, No.2, December,
2010), and many others. |
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Kumiko Torikai, Ph.D. is president of the Japan Association for Interpreting and Translation Studies and former president of the Japan Congress/Convention Bureau. Her research interests include social, cultural and communicative aspects of language education, as well as interpreting and translation as intercultural practice and its sociocultural significance. Her recent publications include Voices of the Invisible Presence: Diplomatic Interpreters in Post-World War II Japan（2009, John Benjamins），Tsuyakusha to Sengo Nichibei Gaiko (2007, Misuzu Shobo), Ayaushi, Sho Gakko Eigo (2006, Bungeishunjusha), Rekishi o Kaeta Goyaku (2004, Shinchosha), TOEFL-TOEIC to Nihon Jin no Eigo Ryoku (2002, Kodansha), Sho Gakko de Naze Eigo: Gakko Eigo Kyoiku o Kangaeru (co-author, 2002, Iwanamni Shoten), "The Challenge of Language and Communication in Twenty-first Century Japan" (Japanese Studies, Vol. 25, No. 3, December 2005, Routledge), and many others. |
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Wataru Koyama specializes in linguistics, critical socio-historical pragmatics, and linguistic anthropology. Integrating Anglo-American linguistics and pragmatics into Peircean semiotics, Jakobsonian linguistics, and Sapirian social theory, he aims to construct a general human science which embraces domains now separately covered by linguistics, (cultural) anthropology, sociology, history, psychology, and aesthetics. His works include Kigo no Keifu (2008, Sangensha), Kigo no Shisou (2009, Sangensha), and other contributions to internationally recognized journals and publications, such as Journal of Pragmatics, Language and Communication, Rask, and The Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, 2nd edition (2005, Elsevier). |
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Mikako Naganuma studies interpreting and translation based upon systemic functional linguistics, as well as her own experience as an interpreter and translator. Taking the context of culture and situation into account, she analyzes lexico-grammatical choices in the process of interpreting and translation from metafunctional perspectives, and explores the meaning of interpreting/translation texts. She is also interested in such issues as information structure and grammatical metaphor in Japanese and English, and how theoretical analysis can be applied to interpreter/translator education. Her publications include “Thematic Challenges in Translation between Japanese and English”, “Hon-yaku ni okeru meishika to iu bunpou teki hiyu” (Nominalization as grammatical metaphor in translation), and many others.. |
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Naomi Kamijo is basically specialized in social education and andragogy. Her research interests include organization of the learning process reflecting the global issues into the learning activities, Development Education, Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), Peace Education, Human Rights Education and the development of sustainable community. She serves as the vice president of the Development Education Association and Resource Center (DEAR). She is a co-author of If the World were a Village of 100 people – Workshop Edition (2003, DEAR), a co-editor of Chiiki kara egaku korekarano kaihatsu kyoiku (2008, Shinhyoron) and others. |
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Joseph Shaules specializes in intercultural communication, cultural adaptation, language education, intercultural training and education, as well as education materials development. His research focuses on the process of adapting to new cultural environments, cross-cultural comparison, as well as unconscious elements of deep culture. He holds an MA in teaching from the School for International Training (Brattelboro, Vermont), and a Ph. D. in intercultural communication (University of Southampton). He is the director of the Japan Intercultural Institute, and a consultant for Intercultures Inc. Publications include Deep Culture - The Hidden Challenges of Global Living (2007, Multilingual Matters), Identity (2003, Oxford University Press), Different Realities (1997, Nan-un'do) as well as many other articles and textbooks. |
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