Featured Panelists
Gary McLeod
Dr Gary McLeod is a Tokyo-based British photographer with a PhD from London College of Communication, University of the Arts London. Building on a collective inquiry into photographs from the Challenger expedition (1872–1876), his research explores the convergence of rephotography and participatory/collaborative photographic practices. He is Assistant Professor of Visual Arts at Hosei University in Tokyo where he teaches courses in photography and visual communication in English. Additionally he is a lecturer and module leader for the online MA Photography program offered by Falmouth University. Having lived and taught visual communication design in Turkey and India, and having facilitated numerous rephotography and 'post-photography' workshops around Asia using English as a target language, he continues to look at the world 'with' others as opposed to 'for' them. Gary can be reached through his website, found at: http://www.garymcleod.co.uk/
Nerida Rand
With an M.Ed in Adult Education and as a proud graduate of a Japanese acting school, Nerida has been doing her hobby as a job at SFC since 1997: starting off teaching ESL and drama classes in the high school's Yutori Education program, she moved to the university in 2001 to teach drama-based English courses and direct student theatre productions. As an academic, she is an Associate Professor at Yokohama National University, where she conducts research into applied theatre techniques in education and teaches communication skills to future lawyers. Once a week she also works with future teachers at the Keio Teacher Training Centre. In her off-campus life, she is sporadically active as an actor, improviser, dramaturg and acting coach in Japan and overseas. She is a much better improviser in Japanese than she is in English, and figures that cracking the secret to how that’s possible will make her a better language teacher. If you asked her to condense all of that into two lines for a business card, she’d probably tell you that she has a solid career in herding cats and training unicorns.
Stefan Brückner
Stefan Brückner originally started out as a student of political science and history at the University of Munich, Germany. During his undergraduate studies, he lived in Fukuoka for a year, and liked the food on Kyushu so much that he decided he had to come back to Japan. He completed a double-degree master’s program between the University of Halle (Germany) and Keio University, holding master’s degrees in intercultural studies and Japanese language. Currently, he is a Ph.D. student and research assistant at the Keio Graduate School of Media and Governance and a member of the Global Environmental System Leaders program. Stefan’s research interests are mainly focused on the localization and “Western” reception of Japanese video games. He is involved in a collaborative research project between Keio University and the mobile game developer Cygames. Recently, he went on a research trip to Los Angeles and San Diego, where he also enjoyed the local craft beer scene and had fun paddle boarding, only falling into the ocean twice.
Ayaka Ito
Ayaka Ito graduated from Keio SFC's Faculty of Policy Management in 2008. She worked as a media planner at VIBE Inc. for 3 years, and then from 2010-2012 she studied in the US for a second BA in international business and TESOL. When the Tohoku Earthquake hit Japan in 2011, she got involved in fundraising for earthquake relief. This led her to learn about culture and communication in a more academic setting. She then moved to England and earned an MA in Cross-cultural communication from Newcastle University. Ayaka continues to pursue her academic career and is currently a Ph.D. candidate in the Keio Graduate School of Media and Governance. She is writing a dissertation entitled “A Study of Location-Based Audio Guide Systems Promoting Cultural Understanding in Japan”. She also works as a “Writing & Research Consultant” in the SFC Media Center, offering mentoring services for Keio university students. She is a lecturer at both Bunkyo University, and Yokohama Women’s Junior College.
Yukiko Sato
Yukiko happily calls San Diego California home. She lived there for 6 years, greatly enjoying the sun and the very diverse atmosphere. She is currently a Ph.D. student, research assistant and a member of a research project with the mobile-game developer Cygames at Keio University. She has two Masters Degrees, one in Media and Governance from Keio University and one in Intercultural German-Japanese Studies from University of Halle in Germany. Her academic interests are comparing the difference of language and culture in Germany, America and Japan. Her family has owned and operated a sake company for 15 generations in Tendo, Yamagata- running a sake brewery until the Second World War, and a sake and wine store since then. Due to her unique lineage, she has a keen interest in the art of matching delicious wine and food. People with a similar interest should investigate her family's Facebook page, found here:
https://www.facebook.com/shuho.sakaguchi24/
Moderators
David O'Donnell
David is an American who has been a member of the Keio family for 9 years. Born in Northampton, Massachusetts, he has taught English in America, Taiwan, and Japan and has worked in Academic administration at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Harvard Business School, and Columbia University. He holds degrees in history from the University of Massachusetts and Education from Columbia University's Teachers College. His interests are largely focused on teaching language and cultural understanding through popular media. He works as an English advisor to the Japanese NPO Action Against Child Labour and is currently assisting in the development of their English pages. He loves kids, cats, dogs, coffee, and comic books, and can be reached at davidod@sfc.keio.ac.jp, or through his website, www.daveod.com.
Walter Wyman
Walt Wyman is originally from America, but has spent nearly half his
life studying and working in Japan. His undergraduate degree is in
East Asian Studies from Oberlin College. He obtained a Masters degree
in Religious Studies from Tohoku University. He has been working as an
English teacher in Japan since 1996 and as a translator since 1999.
His academic interests include Japanese literature, religion, and
translation. He just began teaching at Keio SFC in April 2017.
Although he works at Keio, he lives in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, with
his wife and two daughters.
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