The Japanese program at UNC provides different classes ranging from language, literature and culture. The program helps students develop the four skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing.
But only one professor is teaching the Japanese courses and is the adviser for the Japanese minor. Her name is Kaori Shimizu. She has been teaching at UNC since 2021.
With only a small selection of Japanese classes, is there a high interest from students who want to learn Japanese?
“Yes, I believe so, well those students who are in Japanese language courses are studying very hard,” Shimizu said. “Although, Japanese is not an easy language because we have different writing systems.”
UNC students Jasmin Alamos and Samantha Heppenstall, who participated in the 35th Colorado Japanese Speech Contest, said they wished the department could grow.
“I would love to see more. Even when I tried to take it freshman year it was hard to get into that 101 class because it was the only one offered, and I think it’s a really good program,” Heppenstall said. “I think if more kids knew about it, it would be really cool to get more classes offered.”
The classes offered include elementary and intermediate Japanese. A Japanese Popular Culture class is also offered, but it is limited and available only during certain semesters.
“I do think it’s unfortunate because Japanese is such a big part of pop culture nowadays. You see anime and manga and it’s popular with just about anyone,” Alamos said. “So, just to be able to offer more classes is really exciting and having it all fall onto Shimizu-sensei. It’s really impressive to see how she handles things with stride.”
