Joshua Lee Solomon

(Hirosaki University, Lecturer)

I have a long history with Japan, first spending a year at the International Christian University in Tokyo in 2006 as an undergraduate East Asian Studies major, then spending a year in Hirosaki as a Fulbright Fellow in 2008, and again traveling back and forth throughout graduate school. I now work as a lecturer in the Hirosaki University Institute for the Promotion of Higher Education, teaching English in and co-managing the university self-access learning center (SALC) called the English Lounge, as well as giving general English classes in the Liberal Arts program. I earned my Ph.D. in East Asian Languages and Civilizations from the University of Chicago in 2017. While I focus more on practice than research in EFL, I am interested in the use of culturally-familiar materials in language learning, intralingual translation, and literature in language education, and am working on a study involving the application of translations of local and foreign folktales in the classroom. My area studies research interests include regional literature, vernacular practices, Japanese folk music, and critical theory, and my current research project investigates the relationship between place and Japanese-language literature in Manchuria.