Affliated Faculty

Hiroyuki N. Good
Hiroyuki N. Good
Japanese Studies Librarian

My research interests include US-China-Japan relations, particularly focus on the relationship between US and Japan’s resumption of diplomatic ties with China and China's economic development. Other interests include Japanese company histories (shashi), US-Japan document delivery system, and Japanese copyright law related digital resources.

Noriko Kanisawa Kowalchuck
Assistant Instructor, East Asian Languages and Literatures

I started teaching Japanese Language at the University of Pittsburgh in 1999. I did not realize when I started how much I enjoy teaching Japanese. I have taught class at every level that Pitt offers including the Summer Intensive Japanese courses.

Junzo Oshimo
Assistant Instructor, East Asian Languages and Literatures

I am primarily interested in teaching.

After graduating from college I spent some time in small villages of the Philippines and Kenya doing volunteer work concerned with rural development of developing nations. That’s when I got interested in teaching, but not teaching as an act of merely transmitting some information to others but teaching as an act of catalyzing them. In this regard it is rewarding to see my students, by learning a foreign language, get interested in a different culture and learn to see themselves from a different viewpoint. It is also very challenging and you can never be a perfect teacher. I have found teaching to be very similar to childrearing.

I first started teaching Japanese as a TA a month after my first child was born. At that time I did not know much about raising children or teaching Japanese. Everything was trial and error. Everything was a learning experience. When I reflect on some of the things I did to my children or in Japanese class, I still get embarrassed about how bad I was. Time flies very quickly and my youngest child is now in college. Have I become an expert in childrearing or Japanese pedagogy? The answer is no. I might be a little better than before, but I am still learning and will continue to learn as long as I'm a parent or a teacher.

Sachiko Takabatake Howard
Assistant Instructor, East Asian Languages and Literatures

From the novice level to superior level, I enjoy every aspect of teaching the Japanese language, except giving grades. Teaching ACT classes is especially fun and rewarding. Summer Intensive Courses Summer Intensive Japanese classes have also been a good experience. Students work so hard and learn so much in just 10 weeks. For a number of years I have had enthusiastic students who have many questions about various aspects of the language, which makes me analyze and appreciate the Japanese language more. Summer classes also enjoy fun activities such as field trips, parties, and Japanese movies!

Devon Tipp
Graduate Student, Music

Shaped by sonic sensitivity from a young age, Devon Tipp creates unorthodox musical environments from ostensibly incompatible realms. A second year PhD student at the University of Pittsburgh, he is equally at home composing for deconstructed western woodwinds, folk instruments, the Harry Partch instruments or western orchestra, drawing influence from rich Japanese and Eastern European roots, alongside experiences in Nordic countries. He received his BA from Montclair State University, where he studied composition, microtonal music, bassoon and shakuhachi. He has also studied gagaku (traditional Japanese court music) in Tokyo, Japan. His music has been performed by microtonal specialists Kjell Tore Innervik, Veli Kujala and Tolgahan Çogulu. He has also worked with Rarescale, the Thin Edge New Music Collective, the Sudbury Guitar Trio, and members of Avanti! Chamber Orchestra, and his compositions have been featured at the Soundscape Festival, Bowdoin Festival, Atlantic Music Festival, Sävellyspaja Summer Composition Masterclasses, and the Tokyo International Double Reed Society Conference.