Faculty & Staff
US Office
Erik Lofgren
Chair
Associate Professor Erik Lofgren is returning to the role of Chair of AKP after a four-year stint in 2014–18. As Chair, he is responsible for the overall administration of the program. He has also served as Resident Director of the program twice and taughtas a Visiting Faculty Fellow at the AKP Kyoto Center three times. At Bucknell University, he teaches courses in Japanese language, literature, and film. He received his Ph.D. in Japanese from Stanford University and conducts research into issues of self in war-related literature, representations of sexual desire in film, Godzilla, and produces translations of poetry. He is the author of numerous articles and poetry translations, as well as a forthcoming book of translations of haiku by Natsume Sōseki.
Allison Kretschmar
Program Administrator
Allison joined the AKP US Office in 2025, where she provides support to students throughout the application, pre-departure, and re-entry processes. In addition, she collaborates closely with institutional partners and the Kyoto office to address any emerging needs. She holds a B.A. in International Studies from Mars Hill University and an M.Ed. in Higher Education from the University of South Carolina. With over a decade of experience in international education, Allison is dedicated to helping students successfully prepare for their academic and cultural experiences in Japan.
2025-2026 Resident Director
Linus Yamane
ライナス山根
Linus Yamane is a Professor of Economics and Asian American Studies at Pitzer College, one of the Claremont Colleges in sunny southern California. He is also a core faculty member in the Intercollegiate Department of Asian American Studies at the Claremont Colleges. He has a B.S. in Economics from M.I.T., and a Ph.D. in Economics from Yale University. His research is in macroeconomics, labor economics, Japan, and Asian American Studies, and he likes to tell economics jokes. His first trip to Japan was during his study abroad semester in college. He has served as Visiting Faculty Fellow in the AKP program three times. He has spent some time at the Japan Development Bank, the World Bank, AT&T Bell Laboratories and the National Bureau of Economic Research. He has also taught at Kwansei Gakuin University, Wellesley College, Harvard University, and Yale University. He has been at Pitzer College since 1988. His favorite hobby is eating, everything from a konbini onigiri to kaiseki ryori.
山根ライナスは、陽光降り注ぐ南カリフォルニアにあるクレアモント・カレッジのひとつ、ピッツァー・カレッジの経済学およびアジア系アメリカ人研究の教授である。また、クレアモント・カレッジのアジア・アメリカ研究部門の中核を担う教授でもある。MITで経済学の学士号、イェール大学で経済学の博士号を取得。研究分野はマクロ経済学、労働経済学、日本、アジア・アメリカ研究。経済学ジョークが好き。初めて日本を訪れたのは大学時代の留学期間中。AKPプログラムの客員研究員を3回務めた。日本開発銀行、世界銀行、AT&Tベル研究所、全米経済研究所に勤務した経験もある。関西学院大学、ウェルズリー大学、ハーバード大学、イェール大学でも教鞭をとる。1988年よりピッツァー大学に在籍。趣味は食べることで、コンビニおにぎりから懐石料理まで何でも食べる。
Kyoto Center Staff
Mari Kawata
河田麻里
Office Director
事務長
Mari Kawata is the Office Director at the AKP Kyoto Center, responsible for managing the day-to-day administrative operations including communications with the AKP US Office and with Doshisha University. She is a native of Kyoto and has studied abroad in the United States, where she lived in a homestay. She has been with the AKP Kyoto Center since 2005.
河田麻里はAKP同志社留学生センターの事務長として、AKPアメリカ事務局や同志社大学とのコミュニケーションを含む日々の管理業務を担当している。京都出身で、アメリカ留学やホームステイの経験もある。AKP同志社留学生センターには2005年から勤務している。
Megumi Yamaguchi
山口恵実
Accounting Coordinator
アカウンティングコーディネーター
Megumi Yamaguchi oversees accounting and money matters at the AKP Kyoto Center. She speaks Kansai-ben and joined AKP in 2010.
山口恵実はAKP同志社留学生センターで会計業務を担当している。関西弁話者。2010年よりAKPで勤務。
Keiko Kawakami
川上圭子
Homestay and Housing Coordinator
ホームステイ・ハウジングコーディネーター
As the Homestay and Housing Coordinator, Keiko Kawakami has been responsible for AKP academic matters and all facets of AKP events since July 2024. She was born and raised in Osaka and now lives in Kyoto. Prior to joining AKP, she worked for many years as a short-term exchange program coordinator and within the international affairs department of various universities, where she was responsible for faculty exchange programs, international cooperation and arranging courtesy visits for executives. In her spare time, she enjoys listening to music, hiking, and traveling.
2024年7月よりアカデミック・イベント業務を担当している。大阪生まれで現在は京都在住。これ
までに、大学で交換留学生コーディネーターや国際交流課で勤務し、教員交換プログラムや国際協
力、表敬訪問の手配などを担当してきた。趣味は音楽鑑賞、ハイキング、旅行。
Language Faculty
Shiho Imao
今尾志保
Shiho Imao received her B.A. in Japanese Literature from Ferris University and her M.A. in Teaching Japanese as a Foreign Language from San Francisco State University. She worked in the business world and then shifted to Japanese language education. She came to AKP in 2005 after teaching Japanese at Stanford University and Harvard University. She aims to create classes where students can actively learn while making use of the distinctive environment of study abroad. She enjoys playing with her dog.
フェリス女学院大学文学部卒業（日本文学専攻）。サンフランシスコ州立大学修士号（日本語教育）。一般企業勤務を経て日本語教育へ。スタンフォード大学、ハーバード大学で日本語教育に携わったのち、2005年からAKPにて現職。留学という環境を生かしながら、学生が主体的に学べる授業を心がけている。趣味は犬と遊ぶこと。
Ayuka Suemasa
末政歩夏
Ayuka Suemasa received her M.A. in Japanese Language Pedagogy from the University of Utah after graduating from Kansai Gaidai University. She taught Japanese at Oberlin College, Middlebury College Summer School, and Washington University in St. Louis before joining AKP in 2025. Her research interests include katakana acquisition and pronunciation. She is from Osaka, Japan, and enjoys sports and watching animal videos in her free time.
関西外国語大学を卒業後、ユタ大学大学院にて日本語教育学の修士号を取得。これまでにオーバリン大学、ミドルベリー大学サマースクール、ワシントン大学セントルイス校で日本語を教え、2025年よりAKPに勤務予定。研究テーマはカタカナの習得や発音に関して。大阪府出身。趣味はスポーツと動物の動画を見ること。
Megumi Oyama
大山めぐみ
Megumi Oyama received her B.A. in Japanese Linguistics from International Christian University and her M.A. in East Asian Languages and Literatures from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She arrived at AKP in 2004 after teaching at the University of Oregon, Smith College, and elsewhere. She aims to create learner-centered classes and is interested in peer editing activities. She is from Chiba prefecture and loves cats.
国際基督教大学（教養学部 語学科 日本語学専攻）にて学士号取得、ウィスコンシン大学マディソン校（東アジア言語文学部）にて修士号取得。オレゴン大学、スミス大学などにて日本語教育に携わり、2004年より現職。学習者中心の授業を心がけており、ピアエディティングの活動に興味を持っている。千葉県出身。猫好き。
Kayo Yoshida
吉田佳代
Kayo Yoshida received her B.A. in Linguistics from the University of Iowa and her M.A. in Japanese Language Education from Purdue University. She taught Japanese as a lecturer at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, and at Binghamton University before joining AKP in 2019. She taught Japanese at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University in 2021–2022 and then returned to AKP, where she has taught since 2022. She is from Miyagi prefecture in the Tohoku region. Her personal interests are shamisen and calligraphy.
アイオワ大学言語学部卒業。インディアナ州パデュー大学で日本語教育を学び、修士
を取得。大学院を卒業後、マサチューセッツ大学ボストン校、ニューヨーク州立大学の一つであるビンガムトン大学で講師として日本語を教える。AKPは2019-2021年勤務。立命館アジア太平洋大学で1年間日本語を教えた後、2022年よりAKPにて現職。宮城県出身。趣味は三味線と書道。
Kazumi Yoshimura
吉村和美
Kazumi Yoshimura received her B.A. in German Language and Studies from Sophia University in Tokyo and her M.A. in Japanese Linguistics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has taught for the Japan Foundation (TAP Program), University of Wisconsin-Madison, Hokkaido International Foundation (Summer Intensive Course), and University of Sheffield (Summer Study Tour at Doshisha University). She has been with AKP since 1994. Her current position at AKP has its origins in the experiences and perspectives she gained from foreign language study as a German major in college. Through her participation in the establishment of a college department of Japanese language education in a previous position, she started down the path of Japanese language education. She treasures the many encounters with wonderful students and other participants that are only possible through her current work. She is from Nagoya in Aichi prefecture. Her hobbies are going to the theater, watching movies, art appreciation, and reading. She relieves stress with the help of the works and performances of her favorite artists and by spending time in the great outdoors.
上智大学外国語学部ドイツ語学科卒業。ウィスコンシン大学マディソン校大学院修士課程修了（日本語学) 。国際交流基金 (TAPプログラム)、ウィスコンシン大学マディソン校、北海道国際交流センター (夏期集中コース)、シェフィールド大学（同志社大学日本研修旅行）で日本語教育に携わる。1994年より現職。大学でドイツ語学を専攻し、そこでの外国語の学びの経験、視点が現職の原点。前職で大学の日本語教育学科の設置業務に携わったのがきっかけで、日本語教育の道へ。この仕事を通じてでなければありえなかった多くの素晴らしい学生、関係者との出会いが、人生の宝。出身は愛知県名古屋市。趣味は、観劇、映画鑑賞、美術鑑賞、読書。好きなアーティストの作品、パフォーマンスから力をもらうのと大自然に身を置くのがストレス解消法。
2025-2026 Elective Course Faculty
Hideko Abe
Sharon Akimoto
Sharon Akimoto is a professor of psychology at Carleton College where she taught for 33 years. She is married to David Rothstein, who is a retired hospice chaplain, and lives in Saint Paul, Minnesota. She had the great honor of teaching Japanese graduate students in the American Studies Master's Program as an AKP American Studies Fellow in 2004, and later AKP students as a Visiting Faculty Fellow in 2022. She currently teaches courses on social psychology, psychology of prejudice, introductory psychology and cross-cultural psychology. She will offer an adaptation of the cross-cultural psychology course during the Fall 2025 semester. This class will focus specifically on Japan-US comparisons, covering topics such as child development, group processes, cognition and mental health. Having gained deeper insight into the goals of the program and interests of students, she looks forward to integrating course material with student experiences living and learning in the local context. In addition to reprising a very popular field trip to a Kyoto Sanga soccer game, the class will examine a variety of cultural products and practices ranging from formal Japanese paintings to contemporary visual media, as well as educational practices, parenting customs, and norms of communication and interaction. Through these examples, we will assess the prevalence and practice of holistic thinking, which is a key characteristic of Japanese psychology. Her past research on cross-cultural understanding and misunderstand and well-being significantly informs both her teaching and ongoing research. With support from AKP in 2022, she was fortunate to have the opportunity to conduct a study on Japanese perceptions of indebtedness, in collaboration with Professor Yukiko Uchida, Kyoto University, and Professor Shigehiro Oishi, University of Chicago. Although the paper has been reviewed by top journals, she and her coauthors are still seeking the appropriate venue for possible publication. She is looking forward to exploring further extensions of this research using qualitative (such as observational, interview) and possibly quantitative methods. She is deeply grateful for the opportunity to return to Doshisha University and Kyoto. Serving in the Associated Kyoto Program has been an incredible honor and privilege. It is a major highlight of her career.
Michael Jamentz
Catherine Ludvik
Catherine Ludvik obtained a Ph.D. at the University of Toronto in the Centre for the Study of Religion and teaches Japanese religion, visual arts, culture, and history at the Stanford Program in Kyoto, Doshisha University, and Kyoto Sangyo University. Spanning Indian and Japanese religions and their visual arts, her research interests focus on the metamorphoses of originally Indian deities in texts, images, and rituals of Japan, as well as on ascetic practices and pilgrimage. She is the author of Recontextualizing the Praises of a Goddess (2006) and Sarasvatī, Riverine Goddess of Knowledge (2007), and is currently working on the goddess Uga-Benzaiten and the Shikoku Henro pilgrimage. She has taught Japanese religion and visual arts at AKP since 2002.
Matthew Swagler
Matthew Swagler is Assistant Professor of History at Connecticut College. He is a historian of twentieth-century Africa, focusing on decolonization and youth culture in Senegal and Congo-Brazzaville. His work combines social, political, and urban history to understand why youth organizations became the primary vehicles for the expression of popular grievances against new African governments following the end of formal colonial rule in the 1960s. In his teaching, Swagler also examines histories of childhood, Pan-Africanism, gender and sexuality, the long-term dynamics of African economies, and global social movements of the 1960s—including in Japan. He is currently completing a book manuscript entitled Decolonization’s Discontents: Youth and the Struggle Over Independence in Congo and Senegal, 1956-1974. His recent publications have appeared in the Review of African Political Economy, Africa is a Country, and the edited volume Revolutionary Movements in Africa (Pluto Press, 2024).
Justine Wiesinger
Justine Wiesinger is Associate Professor of Japanese at Bates College, where she has taught since 2018. She received her B.A. in East Asian Studies from Johns Hopkins University, and her Ph.D. in East Asian Languages and literatures from Yale University in 2018. Wiesinger has 3 years’ experience living in Japan previously: one year teaching English conversation in Chiba 2008-2009, one year attending the Inter-University Center’s intensive Japanese language program in Yokohama in 2011-2012, and one year undertaking dissertation research on a Fulbright in 2015-2016. At Bates, she teaches both Japanese language and Japanese culture classes which cover literature, film, theater, and animation. Wiesinger’s primary research focus is the theater and film created as a response to the 2011 earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster. Her article 2021 article “Glacier or Iceberg? Spatial, Temporal, and Contextual Distance in an International Performance of Okada Toshiki’s Time’s Journey Through a Room,” published in Asian Theatre Journal, was recognized by the Association for Asian Performance with the 2021 Carol Fisher Sorgenfrei Award. Her book on this topic, Performing Disaster: the 3.11 Earthquake, Tsunami, and Nuclear Meltdown in Theater and Film, is under contract at Cornell University Press. This will be her first year as a Visiting Faculty Fellow at AKP.