Japanese Program Georgetown University

Spotlight on Lily-san for the second day in a row! 😍 This time, she shared photos from her internship with JR Tokai! As part of the internship, she had the incredible opportunity to ride the Linear Shinkansen, which can reach speeds of up to 500 km/h! 🚄✨ The train is not yet open to the public, but it is scheduled to begin service around 2037.

It looks like she had an amazing experience! 😊 Omori-sensei’s Level 3 students should remember reading about JR Tokai and the famous “7-Minute Miracle” cleaning team in class. Lily-san actually got to visit the company in person, which is so cool! 🤩

Thank you for sharing your experience with us, Lily-san! We love seeing what our students are doing in Japan!

Greetings from Nagahama, Shiga! Olivia Penick (MASIA) is currently taking part in a Bunraku workshop and has shared photos and reflections from her experience. What a wonderful opportunity to engage with Japan’s rich cultural heritage—looks like she’s having a fantastic time!
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This summer I was lucky enough to travel to Japan to study Bunraku, the ancient art of Japanese puppet theatre, in the city of Nagahama in Shiga Prefecture. Alongside practicing puppetry and the unruly three-stringed shamisen under Master Abe’s instruction, so far we have also visited the nearby island of Chikubushima in Lake Biwa to visit Hogonji Temple, toured Nagahama Castle, and taken a road trip to Osaka to see a Bunraku play at the National Bunraku Theatre. Despite having a notoriously high barrier to understanding and performance, it’s inspiring to watch the members of the Tonda theatre troupe rehearse as the effusive charm of the puppets and accompanying shamisen and vocal performances shine through. I’ve also had the chance to eat authentically-made shiso umeboshi and nikujaga at my homestay—so far, it’s been nothing but fun!

Lily-san sent us some super fun photos from Japan, and we are loving them! 😍 It looks like Lily, Tomo, Shiamu, and Manato are all having an amazing time and making lots of wonderful memories! 😊 Enjoy the rest of your stay! As for Tomo, it will be a little longer than a “stay,” but enjoy the “shakaijin” experience in Japan! 😄

And to all of our students, we’d love to see your summer adventures too, so keep those photos coming! 😊

Mori-sensei and Omori-sensei are hard at work at the AP Japanese Reading in Tampa!Mori-sensei is the Chief Reader (a.k.a. The Boss), leading and organizing the entire team of readers (scorers)! Omori-sensei also has a demanding job that requires both accuracy and speed while scoring thousands of AP Japanese exams. She was on a mission to become the fastest scorer and help her team beat the other team. Mission accomplished! 🏆😆 But let’s just say her shoulders and neck are feeling it now. 😭😆

Of course, we still managed to find some time for pickleball. 😆 Omori-sensei even squeezed in a little pool time, too!

As an unexpected bonus, the New Zealand Men’s National Soccer Team is staying at our hotel ahead of their World Cup match on Saturday! ⚽🇳🇿 Mori-sensei even got her picture taken with some of the players. Omori-sensei, meanwhile, completely missed the opportunity because she was lured away by the desserts in the lounge. 🍰😂 Priorities, people. 😆

I heard from Eri-san, who is currently working at an IT consulting firm in Osaka! 😊 She said she sees Kathryn-san, who is studying in Kobe as a MEXT (Japanese Government) Scholar, almost every month. They even met up with another Hoya and took a trip together to Shimane!

It makes me so happy to see Georgetown connections continuing even after graduation. Hoya Saxa! 💙🩶

Sato-sensei’s brother was featured in the newspaper! He’s basically “a securities professional working on circular/sustainable agriculture,” which is such a unique combination! 😮

What he’s doing is so fascinating. Through Nomura Farm Hokkaido, he’s working on projects like using sweet potatoes that don’t meet market standards as animal feed for the zoo, then using compost made from the animals’ manure to grow more crops, creating a full sustainability loop. He’s also involved in community education and regional revitalization efforts through agriculture. Really impressive work!

If you’d like to read the full article in either English or Japanese, check out this link.

https://tinyurl.com/b62e3urt

Francis-san, who took First-Level Japanese in the fall semester before graduating in December, came back to campus for commencement! 😊 So of course he stopped by to visit Sato-sensei!

Aiko-san also came by to say goodbye. Omori-sensei was super disappointed not to be able to see her before graduation, but hopefully we can meet up in Tokyo or Taipei someday! 😊 (Visiting Taiwan is definitely on her bucket list!)

Congratulations to both of you on your graduation! We are so proud of you. Please keep us updated on your adventures!

And Susan-san, you’re next! 😄 Follow in your senpais’ footsteps and dream big!🫶

Jiawei-san stopped by the office to say hi and introduce his mom to Sato-sensei! 😊 Omori-sensei was so disappointed to have missed them 😭, but Sato-sensei said they had such a lovely visit! 😍

Congratulations on your graduation, Jiawei-san! You should be very proud of all you have accomplished, and I know your mom must be incredibly proud too! 🥰