Living on the Edge 2025

4 Oct 2025, 09:00 → 5 Oct 2025, 20:30 Asia/Tokyo

Kyoto Sangyo University

Gretchen Clark (Ritsumeikan University), Yoshi Grote (Doshisha Women's College of Liberal Arts)

Kyoto JALT

Warm Hearts Coffee

Saturday 4 October

1 Saturday registration

Speakers: Gretchen Clark (Ritsumeikan University), JENNIE ROLOFF ROTHMAN (Kanda University of International Studies, JALT SIG Representative Liaison), Jennifer Jordan (Kwansei Gakuin University), Yoshi Joanna Grote (Doshisha Women's College of Liberal Arts)

2 Opening (E)

Welcome by Yoshi Grote
Important details about the conference by Gretchen Clark
"Fledgling" by Phil Norton

Speakers: Gretchen Clark (Ritsumeikan University), Jennifer Jordan (Kwansei Gakuin University), Phil Norton, Sean Gay (Kyoto University of Foreign Studies), Yoshi Grote (Doshisha Women's College of Lberal Arts)

Fledgling - lyrics - Phil Norton.pdf

Phil Norton's Website

Phil Norton's YouTube Channel

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3 Between Worlds: Navigating My Legitimacy and Identity in Japan

Each of us inhabits multiple, intersecting identities that shape our lived experiences. As a white woman living in Japan, I navigate life as both a global majority and a local minority. I am a fluent Japanese speaker, a mother to two bilingual, bicultural children, a PhD student in my 40s, an EFL educator, and a researcher focusing on the educational experiences of immigrant children and the teachers who support them in rural Japan. My multiple identities interweave, conflict, and reshape one another in both personal and professional contexts, all the while shaping how I engage with my work, my community, and myself. This presentation draws on autoethnography and reflective practice to examine how my various identities influence and complicate each other. Despite linguistic fluency and cultural familiarity, I often carry a quiet struggle to be seen and accepted as legitimate in the spaces I inhabit, academic, professional, and communal. As I study children negotiating belonging, I, too, am negotiating my own. By applying an ecological perspective, I situate these struggles within the broader systems, institutional, cultural, and familial that shape both my own experience and those of the immigrant families I study. I will explore how power dynamics, cultural assumptions, and relational networks influence legitimacy and belonging across contexts. Ultimately, this talk seeks to open space for critical conversations about how we as educators, researchers, parents, and individuals embody and challenge systems of inclusion and exclusion. Through a reflective lens, I aim to explore the intricate dynamics of navigating cultural boundaries while juggling multiple and evolving roles.

Speaker: Adrianne Verla Uchida (Tokyo City University)

4 Shifting Roles, Persistent Gaps: Non-Japanese Female Faculty Navigating Identity, Leadership, and Well-being in Japan

This narrative case study explores how non-Japanese late-career female faculty members navigate complex, intersecting identities within higher education in Japan. As visible minorities, they strive to fulfil their many roles, both professional and personal, as educators, mentors, employees, partners, parents, and carers of elderly parents, while negotiating institutional cultures that often work against such multiplicity. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with five faculty members and guided by the Job Demands-Resources model (Demerouti et al. 2001) the study reveals how structural exclusion, role ambiguity, and gendered hierarchies shape participant well-being and teaching practices. Despite these challenges, participants embrace inclusive teaching, curriculum design, and intercultural leadership, often serving as role models and mentors to diverse learners. Their pedagogy is grounded in emotional authenticity, critical language awareness, and responsiveness to diverse learning needs. Personal experiences such as parenting, bicultural family life, and identity-based isolation become powerful resources for empathy and student engagement. Rather than simply adapting, these educators advocate for systemic change, calling for inclusive hiring, support of neurodiversity, and leadership that values difference. Their stories illustrate both the cost and potential of “living on the edge” within Japanese academia, and urge us to recognise the creative, ethical, and educational potential of those willing to openly embody multiple, shifting identities. Demerouti, E., Bakker, A. B., Nachreiner, F., & Schaufeli, W. B. (2001). The job demands-resources model of burnout. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86(3), 499–512. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.86.3.499

Speakers: Olivia Kennedy, Sandra Healy (Kyoto Institute of Technology)

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5 The Closet and the Classroom: A Reflection on A Critical Incident

This presentation draws on an autoethnographic study conducted as the capstone project for my Master of Education in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. The study explores how personal identity shapes teaching practice, particularly in contexts where aspects of that identity may be marginalized or rendered invisible, highlighting a broader gap in the literature: queer educator voices are underrepresented in the field of language teacher identity research (Weng et al., 2024). By sharing this account, I aim to help fill that gap and advocate for more research that centers diverse queer voices.
I reflect on one critical incident that prompted me to examine the intersections of my identity as a novice educator and a queer woman teaching in Japan. After a student came out to me, and I to them, following class I shared the exchange with a colleague, believing it signaled I was succeeding in my job as an instructor. Instead of affirming my interpretation, he suggested the conversation was inappropriate. In that moment, I felt my identity had shifted from that of a competent educator to a potential predator.
Critical reflection, as described by Larrivee (2000), emphasizes integrity, openness, and commitment, rather than compromise, defensiveness, or fear. Drawing on this lens, I was able to contextualize his response, examine my beliefs about myself and my role, engage with the experiences of other queer educators, and ultimately reaffirm my identity as a queer educator making informed choices about student interactions rather than simply dismissing the discomfort or taking on an identity imposed by my colleague.
While there is no single correct way to engage in critical reflection, I share how Larrivee’s (2000) model can enable attendees to move through moments of fear toward transformation, providing practical strategies to deepen their reflective practice and foster inclusive, equitable learning spaces.

References:
Larrivee, B. (2000). Transforming teaching practice: Becoming the critically reflective teacher. Reflective Practice, 1(3), 293–307. https://doi.org/10.1080/713693162
Weng, Z., Troyan, F. J., Fernández, L., & McGuire, M. (2024). Examining language teacher identity and intersectionality across instructional contexts through the experience of perezhivanie. TESOL Quarterly, 58(2), 345–369. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.3237

Speaker: Chelanna White (Reitaku University)

6 Motherhood without borders: Choosing single parenthood as a foreign Woman in Japan

As a single, foreign Asian woman living in Japan, I chose to become a mother through medical treatment. It was a decision that challenged cultural expectations, social norms, and personal limits. Born in Taiwan and raised in Australia, I arrived in Japan as an exchange student and have since spent nearly two decades working as an English teacher. Despite a fulfilling professional life, I faced internal and external pressures around marriage and motherhood. My desire to become a parent led me down an unconventional and emotionally demanding path toward solo motherhood. In this presentation, I will share my journey: the years of preparation, research and medical treatment, the birth and difficult delivery of my son, and the evolving identity I now hold as a single mother in a society where assumptions often outweigh understanding. From well-meaning but intrusive questions about my missing husband to the stigma of being unmarried with a child, I will share how I navigate daily encounters in Japan. I will also discuss the social scripts I am expected to follow and my decisions not to follow them. I am hoping I could open a new conversation about non-traditional family paths, to normalize diverse choices in parenthood, and to try to define the concept of a family. I also hope my story might motivate others who may be considering alternative or solo parenthood especially in places like Japan where standing out still still feel like living on the edge.

Speaker: Shzh-chen Nancy Lee (Osaka University)

Yoga with Ellie

12:00 LUNCH

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7 “You are autistic, so you can’t become a university professor”: A Neurodivergent scholar’s struggles in Japanese academia

As a neurodivergent scholar in sociolinguistics and disability studies with no full-time employment, I would like to present my career history from my undergraduate studentship to my current post-doc position. Then, I would like to discuss how academia should be inclusive for neurodivergent scholars. Looking back on my personal story, I have been discriminated against by many university faculty and staff members because of my diagnosis and atypical behavior. In particular, when I was in an undergraduate program, I was blamed for interpersonal issues by other students, was scolded by professors because of that, and was denied permission to apply for an exchange program. Although I later gained confidence in graduate programs from meaningful interactions with professors and students, I have had difficulties making connections in academia, and partly because of that, I have struggled with job searches. I assume that the changing nature of Japanese academia (from research-focused to teaching service) means that job descriptions require scholars to have high-level interpersonal skills, which partly makes it difficult for me to have academic jobs. I still remember one university staff member’s words, “You are autistic, so you can’t become a university professor”, which shocked me. I once even gave up seeking academic jobs; I tried job training to seek disability-specific employment, but I was burned out from dealing with other handicapped people. Eventually, I noticed that my mind is attuned to doing academic jobs, and I have since been working in part-time post-doc and other research positions. In particular, my AD/HD characteristics boosted my ability to make innovative ideas by connecting different ideas in diverse disciplines. In this session, following my short presentation, the participants will be encouraged to share their own experiences interactively.

Speaker: Yasushi Miyazaki

8 Sketching Stability: Using Gratidoodles to Navigate Changing Identities

Shifting identities can be empowering and deeply rewarding, but it can also be exhausting at times. We may struggle to convince others of the legitimacy of one identity or wrestle with impostor syndrome – unsure if we truly belong in a space. At times, we may be transitioning away from long-held beliefs about who we are or shifting between roles. At other times, we may struggle to shake off our professional identity before stepping into the role of parent or partner. Positive psychology provides some roadmaps for helping us navigate these sometimes exciting, sometimes stressful transitions and one strategy is cultivating gratitude. While gratitude journals are a staple of the personal practice of positive psychology, the gratidoodle is a playful alternative practice. This workshop will introduce the gratitude dimension of positive psychology, demonstrate the unique benefits of gratidoodling as a way to dwell on the positive, and invite participants to create their own gratidoodles while sharing their reactions and experiences with others. Absolutely no art skills required, just an openness to some doodling fun.

Speakers: Jennifer Jordan (Kwansei Gakuin University), Yoshi Joanna Grote (Kyoto Sangyo University)

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9 Becoming someone else: How actors can transform their identities

We all have multiple identities, and they shift naturally depending on the situations we encounter. In general, we are not conscious of these shifts, but in this session, we will examine how and why some individuals deliberately change their identities. In this presentation, we will focus on an intercultural training group (which uses the Contrast Culture Method) where role plays are an essential element of the training. The role plays involve two players where one role player responds in the way that comes naturally to them, while the other role player is an actor. This ‘actor’ role player behaves in a way that contrasts the behavior of the other. The goal is to make the culture and value differences stand out to the trainees who watch and respond to the role play. Many cultural differences can be highlighted, such as directness and indirectness, personal disclosure and nondisclosure, etc. Using this approach, the trainees can more easily understand the cultural differences involved.
Acting in public, in a way that is directly at odds with a person’s normal identity can cause feelings of anxiety and stress. In this session the ‘actor’ role players will share their experiences and any difficulties they faced in playing their roles. We will explore whether identity transformations are useful or not.

Speakers: Prof. Amanda Gillis-Furutaka (Kyoto Sangyo University), Donna Fujimoto (Pragmatics SIG), Margaret Kim (Kobe College)

10 Steady Your Voice: Yoga-Led Tools for Speaking with Presence

You’re highly knowledgeable in your field, but when it’s time to share that knowledge, your voice sometimes tells a different story. It’s easy, and often jarring, to feel the shift from confident and assured in your daily role as an educator, researcher, or professional to nervous and shaky in the role of a public speaker trying to present your work. Maybe your voice trembles when all eyes are on you, or your breath turns shallow and your words feel tight. This 45-minute interactive workshop is designed to help you steady your voice so your presence reflects your authority. You’ll learn simple yoga-based tools, including breathwork, gentle postures, and short meditations, to calm your nerves and relax your voice. With partner activities, light storytelling practice, and a take-anywhere sequence, you’ll leave with practical techniques that help you sound like the knowledgeable speaker you truly are.

Speaker: Ellie Smith (Aichi University)

15:05 BREAK

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11 Silent Struggles: Recognizing Hidden Needs in Sensitive and Autistic Students

This roundtable will explore the often invisible challenges faced by autistic and highly sensitive (personality; HSP) students in Japanese schools. Many of these students mask their difficulties to fit in, leading to under-recognition and lack of support. Rationale: Japanese educational culture emphasizes conformity and academic performance, which can exacerbate the struggles of neurodivergent students. Autistic students with high masking tendencies often experience increased anxiety and depression due to the pressure to appear “normal”. Similarly, HSP students may internalize stress from overstimulation and social expectations, yet their needs are rarely acknowledged. Objectives: - Identify behavioral and emotional signs of hidden struggles - Discuss the impact of masking and cultural expectations - Share tools for early recognition and intervention - Promote empathy-based approaches in classrooms Format: - Brief presentation on masking and hidden needs - Case studies from Japanese schools - Group discussion: What signs are we missing? - Sharing of practical strategies and tools - Closing reflections and resource exchange Expected Outcomes: Participants will leave with a deeper understanding of how to identify and support students/classmates/family whose needs are not immediately visible, fostering more inclusive and emotionally safe learning environments.

Speaker: Ben McDonough

12 Coming out of the fog at 40: My adoption story

"Coming out of the fog" is when an adoptee realizes and acknowledges the emotional and psychological impact of their adoption, which is caused by the separation from their birth mother. For some adoptees, they live their entire lives never emerging from the fog. Others gradually come out, like my sister. Then there are those like me who come out of the fog in an instant.

There I was, at 40, sitting on my bed, and it hit me like a freight train. In an instant, the wall my mind had created protecting me from my trauma came crashing down before my very eyes. What followed was a profound shift in my identity and a journey that I still find myself trying to figure out.

Within 3 months, I had located my birth family. I have been able to hug my mother. To see my genetics reflected in another person for the first time. To laugh and cry with my long-lost brother and sister. My understanding of the concept of trauma exploded. For my entire life, "trauma" was something that happened to soldiers in a war or victims of violent crime. Overnight, I realized that I suffered from a lifetime of C-PTSD, but more importantly, I began to realize everyone around me was a victim of trauma of their own.

I spent decades measuring my worth through other people's acceptance of me and always put my happiness in the hands of another. The trauma I have suffered is real, but only recently, thanks to the help of other adoptees I have met and close friends, have I begun to choose how my trauma affects me and how to begin to value myself through my own eyes and not someone else's love or acceptance. I think I am finally starting to heal.

In this session, I will share the practices and perspectives that have been most helpful to me in moving toward healing and self-acceptance. Attendees will also be invited to reflect on and discuss their own experiences of identity and belonging, with the aim of leaving with strategies and encouragement for navigating their own journeys.

Speaker: Robert Dykes

S405

13 I’m (e.g. white) so what can I do about it?

In this session, attendees will explore the concept of privilege. Using the ‘wheel of power and privilege’ developed by Sylvia Duckworth and others, we will consider what aspects of our identity grants us privilege in various situations and those that don’t. The presenters will lead the group in an informal discussion about possible things we miss, how to reconcile one’s privilege and then how to use it for good.

Speakers: Gretchen Clark (Ritsumeikan University), JENNIE ROLOFF ROTHMAN (Kanda University of International Studies, JALT SIG Representative Liaison)

14 Exploring identity through personal narratives by long-term residents of Japan

Universities in Japan are seeing an ever-increasing number of students from diverse cultural backgrounds (Mamiya, 2024). For students including international exchange students, returnees, and Third Culture Kids, university is thus a time not only to prepare for their future career, but also explore their identity and where they belong. In other words, do they view Japan as just a temporary stop or their permanent home? Unfortunately, universities rarely provide courses in which students can openly discuss such issues with classmates with similarly nontraditional upbringings. In order to provide students from diverse cultural backgrounds with the opportunity to discuss their identity and sense of belonging in a multicultural environment, the presenter created a course entitled “A Passion for Japan: Living, Working, and Thriving in Japan” at a large national university. For course content, students read a series of personal narratives by long-term foreign residents of Japan (Rucynski, 2022), with the common theme of how a passion for a specific aspect of Japanese culture (e.g., festivals, Japanese calligraphy, tea ceremony) helped with the acculturation process and made the writer feel at home in Japan. Rather than merely viewing Japan through rose-tinted glasses, however, the authors also shared their struggles along the way with issues including cultural differences, gender roles, and the language barrier. These personal narratives served as a springboard for class discussions about themes such as intercultural communication, cultural identity, and the pros and cons of long-term residency in Japan. Whether or not respective students see Japan as a permanent home, the course provided ample opportunities for examining and discussing real-world stories about finding the place where you belong. The presenter will summarize the course objectives, content, and student reactions (gathered from reading reflections and final presentations).

Speaker: John Rucynski

18:30 Conference Dinner (Space is limited. Sign up required.)

Sunday 5 October

15 Sunday registration

Speakers: Gretchen Clark (Ritsumeikan University), JENNIE ROLOFF ROTHMAN (Kanda University of International Studies, JALT SIG Representative Liaison), Jennifer Jordan (Kwansei Gakuin University), Yoshi Joanna Grote (Doshisha Women's College of Liberal Arts)

S403

16 Navigating shifts in identities while living in Japan

We are members of Counterpoint, a multicultural support group for foreign residents in Japan. Our mission is to help members deal with changes they encounter as years pass and to enable them to find joy and fulfilment in the later stages of life.

Fiona Creaser will begin by introducing the "Health" chapter of a diversity focused workbook designed for adult learners. She will then shift to a personal reflection on aging with a disability, exploring how the nature and impact of her disability have evolved over time. Through this discussion, she hopes to highlight the intersection of aging, disability, and cultural context, and to offer insights that may resonate with others navigating similar experiences.

Herb Fondevilla will discuss a five-year study (2017-2022) which examined arts-based dementia interventions in Japan culminating in the Hanabi Arts Workshop in Toride City. Using participatory action research with local NPOs, artists, and volunteers, three critical implementation challenges were identified: cultural stigma limiting family participation, institutional barriers complicating cross-sector collaboration, and precarious employment threatening program continuity. While arts activities enhanced participant wellbeing, sustainable implementation requires consistent investment, cultural sensitivity training, and innovative funding models addressing community-based research's precarious nature.

Kristie Collins long imagined retirement would entail splitting time between Canada and various gender advisor contracts (CUSO, WUSC, CECI) in developing nations. This would allow her to spend time with family and friends, to qualify for Canadian healthcare, and to pursue meaningful work. With rising costs of living in Canada, however, this plan appears increasingly challenging. Her talk will explore trends in international retirement migration and proposes ways that we might bridge multiple ‘homes’ after retirement.

Amanda Gillis-Furutaka will discuss her personal shift in identity from a full-time professor to a retiree, and link her experiences to the mission of Counterpoint, which is to help us accept aging as a positive stage in life and one we can look forward to. Based on research and her own experiences, she will outline ways in which we can prepare for and achieve this goal through a desire to learn, to adapt, to give, and to connect with others.

Speaker: Prof. Amanda Gillis-Furutaka (Kyoto Sangyo University)

17 Reinventing Ourselves and Navigating Personal Identity While Living Abroad

Moving to a new country and living abroad for a considerable amount of time transforms you, whether you consciously realize it or not. Living in a culture that is radically different from ours can be challenging due to differences in customs, traditions and values. Our sense of identity evolves, and this can lead to a feeling of identity confusion and loss. Growing up in Chennai, one of the largest cities in India, came with its fair share of struggles, however there were moments of great joy and happiness. Visiting home every year reminds me of all the beautiful memories, whether it is going to the long sandy beaches, celebrating diwali or eating traditional South Indian food on a plantain leaf. But returning to reality, I need to reconcile with the fact that I am not as Indian as I used to be. Years of living and travelling across the world has eroded my Indianness and reshaped me into who I am today. Identity is shaped both by the messages we absorb from others and by how we interpret our own experiences. Figuring out who we are can already be a challenge in everyday life, but when we live overseas, we also have to face the stereotypes and biases others may have about us. At the same time, we’re constantly navigating between what we feel to be true about ourselves and the expectations that come from social and cultural norms—ranging from harmless clichés like "Indians eat curry" or "Indians are good at math" to more serious issues like racism. Maintaining our sense of self involves carefully negotiating what we accept or reject, both from within and from the outside world. Living abroad reshapes our sense of identity in profound ways. Exposure to different cultural values, customs, and traditions can lead to both personal growth and feelings of disconnection from one’s roots. Negotiating identity as an immigrant involves balancing internal self-perceptions with external stereotypes and cultural expectations, from benign clichés to serious challenges like racism. I hope that our collective experiences, and how we negotiate these challenges enable us to navigate our life in a better adjusted manner.

Speaker: Parvathy Ramachandran (Kanazawa Institute of Technology)

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18 Living on the Margins, Teaching in the Center: Diverse ALT Voices in Japan

What does it mean to navigate identity while teaching in a society that often values conformity? In this session, we will explore the lived experiences of five Assistant Language Teachers (ALTs) in Japan who identify as neurodiverse, gender-diverse, sexually diverse, and racially diverse. Each speaker will share their personal journey of identity development, resilience, and connection while living and working in Japan.

We aim to highlight the nuanced and evolving identities of ALTs and the ways in which these identities have deepened through their time in Japan. Specifically, our discussion will focus on three areas:

1. How living in Japan has shaped or reshaped our understanding of who we are.
2. The tools, communities, or perspectives that have helped us grow in different contexts.
3. The impact our identities have had in the classroom—how students, teachers, and communities respond to difference, and how that response can shape broader worldviews.

Speakers will include:
* A Black queer ALT navigating intersectional identity in school and using it to open discussions on global citizenship.
* A nonbinary ALT who has created inclusive language-learning materials and found small ways to model authenticity within a rigorous system.
* A neurodiverse ALT who will share strategies for coping with sensory overload in the workplace while also advocating for accessible teaching environments.
* A mixed-race ALT who explores switching and belonging, both inside and outside the classroom.

We will also reflect on how the presence of ALTs from underrepresented backgrounds challenges traditional narratives and expands what students believe is possible in the world around them. Through authentic representation, students will gain exposure to new ways of thinking, being, and connecting—often resulting in powerful conversations, increased empathy, and even subtle changes in how they see themselves and others.

To close the session, each speaker will offer a takeaway: a personal strategy, support system, or mindset shift that has been meaningful in their journey. There will be time for audience Q&A and small-group discussion, creating space for attendees to reflect on and share their own stories. This session aims not only to amplify marginalized voices but also to foster a sense of community and possibility for all who navigate the edges of identity while living and teaching in Japan.

Speakers: Bernadette Benjamin (Meiho Junior High School), Dillon Flores (JET Programme), Emmlyn Dversdall (JET Programme), Hayley Wallace (JET Programme), Kurtis Carter (AJET)

19 From Mom de plume to Non de plume

As a single mom in Japan, much of my identity was shaped by that role, to the point where it even eclipsed my professional persona. I became Daren kun no Mama everywhere I went, and my entire day, schedule, and life were driven by meeting the needs of motherhood. As a single parent and a gaijin living in Japan, I was isolated in many ways. It was overwhelming for both of us at times as we navigated our way through Japanese preschool, elementary school, junior high, and high school together. As a native English speaker who speaks very little Japanese, living outside of Tokyo, we had few resources and very little community, but we always had each other. Sometimes my son struggled, but over time, he thrived. And then, before I knew it, he grew up. He became a young man, bilingual, with a budding career. And I have been struggling mightily to redefine my own life here. I do have a career, but as a single mom, who had limited language skills and limited freedom as I was raising my son, there was a cost, and now, as I'm on the threshold of retirement, I am faced with deciding who I want to be, not when I grow up, but when I grow old! Losing our home in the US in a wildfire and experiencing even greater isolation during COVID has left me with many choices and very little certainty. I have many roles, but I am searching for a new sense of identity that feels as familiar and comfortable, and fitting as that of Daren kun no Mama. I feel equal measures of anxiety, fear, and excitement as I explore this new life and world which I now inhabit.
As for the exploration, one thing that has helped immensely, which I've only just recognized as part of the process, is reaching out and finding new communities to belong to, ones that weren't as accessible when my son was little, and forging new friendships as well. It struck me some months ago, in a conversation with my son, ironically, that I have made a lot of new friends since the world shifted online during COVID, and now that the isolation of the pandemic is seemingly behind us, many of these relationships have moved into real-life gatherings and communities. I would suggest to anyone experiencing something similar to start looking online for groups or communities, both social and professional in nature, that interest you. Once you've made that transition, it gets easier to make authentic connections. It's not that I ditched old friends; it's that my priorities have changed, and I'm using my time differently. And I'm looking more outward than inward, as I'm less constricted by the path between work and home. That would be my first and best advice. Find online communities that are relatable, and from there, find your people within those groups. My second suggestion would be to find things that you genuinely enjoy - that bring you pleasure or peace and indulge in them. Try new things, go new places, and strive for good health, both physically and emotionally. You will surely find new friends, but you might also find some old friends who will share this new path with you. Truthfully, I'm still finding my way, but I don't feel quite as lost now.

Speaker: Dar Watson

20 Translanguaging and Empathy-Based Practices: Teaching as a Woman of Color in Japan

In many classrooms I have experienced as both student and educator, learners are expected to conform to standardized norms, which reflect the culturally homogeneous nature of Japanese society. As a Filipino woman in Japan, I bring a different set of lived experiences. While working against persistent stereotypes surrounding Filipino women in Japan, I also encountered the assumption that I am a nonnative speaker despite English being one of the official languages of the Philippines. These assumptions were compounded by my struggle as a neurodivergent, which made navigating rigid academic and social expectations even more complex. At times, I felt pressure to mask aspects of my identity to align with dominant discourses in language education. This interactive presentation explores how I have come to see my multifaceted identities as a strength in language education. Through translanguaging pedagogy and empathy-based practices, I create classroom spaces where students can engage with English without having to set aside their identities. I will share practical strategies that affirm students’ diverse language experiences and allow them to draw from their full linguistic and cultural resources. At the center of my teaching is the belief that students bring not only their linguistic repertoire, but also emotion, memory, and identity into the classroom. By showing up fully as myself, I invite them to do the same. This presentation is also a call to action to inspire and empower fellow women of color in the field to embrace their lived experiences as valid, powerful tools in navigating and reshaping language teaching in Japan. In a system that often values uniformity, I offer an alternative: one rooted in authenticity, flexibility, and human connection.

Speaker: Ms Ma Wilma Capati (Global Englishes SIG)

Yoga with Ellie

12:30 Lunch

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21 Perspectives on Shared Experiences of Diaspora from a Jewish American in Okinawan Studies

The Sekai Uchinanchu Taikai takes place every five years, bringing together thousands of people of Okinawan descent (Uchinaanchu) from all over the world for a week of events in Okinawa. In this session, I will explore how participation in this event and others with members of Okinawan communities both in Okinawa and in diaspora, helped me to realize the extensive shared commonalities and parallels between the experiences of seemingly disparate immigrant, minority, diaspora communities. Additionally, I will illustrate the potential for employing those commonalities to build connections and to better understand ourselves and others, while inviting audience members to reflect upon their own experiences.
Whether as Uchinaanchu, as Jews, or as members of other communities, we each struggle – as individuals, as families, as communities, and as a people – with how to embody our ethnic or cultural identities and make that truly a part of who we are, while also dealing with the demands of everyday, modern, diaspora life. We wrestle with how to honor who our ancestors might have wanted us to be, and how to maintain traditions, while at the same time not preserving them unchanging as if in a glass jar. We alternate through generations dedicated to assimilation into a majority (e.g. American) identity, and those committed to reclaiming a connection with our heritage. Our ancestors’ suffering in the Holocaust, the Battle of Okinawa, and the Japanese-American internment camps make ideas of peace and freedom central to who we are today. Few of us are experts in the histories or cultural traditions of our ancestors; what we know best is the culture we have experienced in our own families and communities in diaspora – not something entirely of the past or of the “homeland,” but a diasporic version that is equally authentic.
Though our foods, music, languages, traditional festivals and observances, and countless other aspects of our cultures may be different, these parallels and commonalities provide valuable opportunities to bridge a gap, to connect with one another, and through discussions of differing experiences, to learn new things about not only one another, but also about ourselves and about immigrant, minority, diaspora identity and experience itself.

Speaker: Travis Seifman

22 Examining Shifting Identities through Intersectionality

Recently, the theory of intersectionality from Feminist Studies has gained recognition as a valuable tool to explain how individuals encounter prejudice or discrimination not solely based on a single aspect of their identity, but rather due to the collective aspect of their identity, especially a combination of a gender identity element and other minority elements. Members of minority groups who possess more than one identity affiliation with distinct marginalized groups often encounter negative experiences due to facing a combination of prejudices. Currently, it is also widely used to explain multiple identities and how they influence experiences.
This workshop will explore the concept of intersectionality through examining stories of intersectional experiences. Real-life stories shared by workshop participants will also be welcome to enable participants to understand better how experiences of inclusion and exclusion transcend mere fragments of identity to encompass identity fusions. After sharing knowledge, experiences, and ideas, participants will have a chance to propose ways to use concepts of intersectionality to promote social justice and create a more inclusive society.

Speaker: Lisa Rogers (Doshisha Women's College of Liberal Arts)

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23 Loving and Becoming: Fandom as a Site of Identity Formation and Allyship

Fiction is an inevitable product of imagining "the other," which is often a crucial first step to understanding and combatting oppression. Fictional media, then, can in turn be understood as a promising site of connection, understanding, and growth. Media about people different from us can be a particularly rich site of conceptualizing, imagining, and remediating our understand of marginalized identities. This can be especially true of media from cultures not our own, where cultural mores and expectations differ, and opportunities arise to discover and create new avenues of identification, and reimagine ourselves and others in novel ways. The deeper our love for something runs, the more likely that we may experience it as a part of our personal (and interpersonal) identity—seeing ourselves as a "fan" of that thing. This transformative power only multiplies when it extends to the creation of transformative works, as is often the case in fandoms, or communities of fans of fictional media. In this presentation, I will describe how my identity as a "fan" has interacted with other facets of my identity to produce rapid, deep, and often surprising change and growth; I will describe phenomena I have encountered arising from intra- and intercultual influence in fandom, and the smaller ways that I have witnessed love of fiction extend others' understanding; and I will invite participants to consider what they love, how that love may be inviting them to grow, and what opportunities they might find to extend that invitation to others.

Speaker: Terry Tuttle

24 Between Selves: Living Through Identity Extinctions

What happens when everything you thought you knew about yourself dissolves at once? When your body, culture, relationships, and work all shift simultaneously, familiar roles vanish and uncharted selves begin to emerge. This 50-minute interactive workshop invites participants to explore identity "extinction" — those liminal moments when who we were no longer fits who we're becoming. Drawing on Christine Rosen's extinction of experience, Jack Mezirow's transformative learning theory, feminist philosophy (de Beauvoir, Kristeva), and cross-cultural research on aging and embodiment (Lock), we'll examine how midlife transitions, migration, and shifting professional roles intersect and compound. We'll explore Dr. Eliza Filby's framing of Gen X as "ageing disruptors" and Lisa Bilyeu's radical confidence, reframing profound change as generative force rather than devastating loss. For educators navigating cross-cultural contexts, these identity shifts are particularly acute — teaching across languages and cultures while simultaneously reconstructing personal and professional selves. Through guided reflection, small-group dialogue, and collaborative "field note" creation, participants will identify personal patterns of identity extinction and emergence, develop vocabulary for experiences that often lack cultural or academic language, and experiment with radical self-care frameworks designed for complex, overlapping transitions. Using adapted well-being and emotional intelligence tools (Six Seconds EQ, PERMA-V), we'll create practical, field-tested resources for supporting your next becoming. Lived experience is the primary expertise. This session speaks to anyone living between cultures, careers, or identities. Come prepared to share, reflect, and leave with concrete tools for navigating the beautiful complexity of becoming.

Speaker: Lynsey Mori (Ritsumeikan University)

25 Closing

Thank yous to all the important people (i.e. YOU)
"In My House" by Phil Norton

Speakers: Gretchen Clark (Ritsumeikan University), Jennifer Jordan (Kwansei Gakuin University), Phil Norton, Sean Gay (Kyoto University of Foreign Studies), Yoshi Joanna Grote (Doshisha Women's College of Liberal Arts)

In My House - lyrics - Phil Norton.pdf

Phil Norton's website

Phil Norton's YouTube channel