Chris McMorran is Associate Professor in the Department of Japanese Studies at NUS, where he has worked since 2010. He has been teaching “Introduction to Japan” since 2014. McMorran is a cultural geographer with research interests in the geographies of home and the geographies of teaching and learning. He is author of Ryokan: mobilizing hospitality in rural Japan (2022, University of Hawai’i Press), an ethnography of a Japanese traditional inn. McMorran is also an award-winning educator and proud travel/study companion with nearly 100 NUS students on his annual “Field Studies to Japan” course. For more information, visit McMorran’s NUS profile.
Itsuko Tanaka has been a teaching assistant at the Department of Japanese Studies (NUS) since 2004. She teaches tutorials for Introduction to Japan and Itadakimasu! Food in Japan modules on a regular basis. She is also in charge of immersion programmes in Hiroshima, including the Hiroshima homestay programme and internship programme. She writes a short column about Singapore’s education in the Hiroshima-Singapore Association’s newsletter periodically. She received a BA in English/American literature from Keio University, Tokyo and an MA in Applied Japanese Linguistics at Monash University, Melbourne. She has also been an editorial staff for a magazine, an English teacher, a volunteer in Israel, and a Japanese language specialist assisting the Japan Foundation before she migrated to Singapore. She makes the most of her unique background in teaching and enjoys teaching at the Department of Japanese Studies.
Sarah is a Masters student with the Department of Japanese Studies. She is currently working on her thesis exploring the lives and identities of salarymen in early 20th-century Japan. Prior to returning to NUS to pursue her Masters degree, she worked at a Japanese corporation for a year after graduation. Her interests are in Japanese history and the Japanese language, although she also enjoys learning languages in general, reading, Japanese popular culture (including anime, manga and video games) as well as music.
Jyoti Vasnani is a graduate of the Department of Japanese Studies, and is currently a SGUnited Trainee. Her academic area of interest is vacant (and often abandoned) housing in Japan (known as akiya). Her personal interests include reading books (both in Japanese and English), and Japanese pop culture.