University of Memphis Japanese Program

Happy the end of the semester！🎊And Congratulations to those students graduating tomorrow! 🎓You did it!! We are proud of your accomplishments! 💮 Remember, once you are a Multilingual Tiger, you will forever be our family! 🐯💕

🐯📚If you want to continue Japanese during the summer, we have online Japanese courses (JAPN1010, 1020, 2010, and 2020). 🌻Whether you want to accelerate your study to move up faster, review, or start the Japanese on the beach, our online courses are as personalized as on-ground courses! 🐯😻 Contact Prof. Nishi if you have any questions ([email protected])

Make the best of your summer, and congratulations again! 🎉

🎉Great news! 🎊The University of Memphis chapter of the Japanese National Honors Society, sponsored by the American Association of Teachers of Japanese (AATJ), has inducted a record-breaking seven graduating Japanese students this spring! 🏆The Society recognizes academic excellence and achievement in studying the Japanese language, and we’re thrilled to announce that the honorees are Mya Macklin, Brian Bomar, Finn Demo, Kaia Williams (minor), Ryan Sandiford, Ethan Washburn, Michael Rivers, and Zamia Colbert. Congratulations to all of them on their outstanding achievement!🌸💮

🌸 Exciting Announcement! Join us for the first meeting of the year at Benjamin Hooks Central Library's Japanese Culture Club! 🌸

Our Japanese students and alumni are proud to carry on the legacy project of JOI, bringing you a monthly program that introduces the captivating customs and traditions of Japan. 🎎✨

Save the date: February 3rd, from 10:30 am to noon. Immerse yourself in the beauty of Japan's rich culture with many hands-on activities🍵🗻🎉

All are welcome to join us at Benjamin Hooks Central Library for this enriching cultural experience! See you there! 💫👥

🌸 Announcement 🌸

The first meeting of our weekly Japanese language table has been postponed to February 2nd, Groundhog Day! ❄️🌷 Stay tuned for our upcoming announcement! 🎉🗣️

🌸✨ Welcome back, Nihongo Tigers! ✨🌸
Snow days may have closed our university, but the Japanese program is excited to welcome you all back!

Our weekly Japanese language table starts on January 26th. Join us to practice your skills, meet others, and explore Japanese culture. Stay safe and mark your calendars! 🗓️🇯🇵

Join us this Sunday at the Memphis Japan Festival! Like last year, over 40 Japanese students, faculty, and exchange students from Japan will volunteer at the event this year. Get ready to immerse yourself in Japanese culture as they showcase traditional activities such as calligraphy, origami, kamishibai storytelling, and tea ceremonies. The weather is expected to be absolutely perfect! Don't miss out on this incredible opportunity, come and join us! 🇯🇵✨

🎥🎉 The Japanese movie festival ended in style! 🎃👻 "Princess Peach" rocked her Halloween costume and won our hearts, but everyone’s costume was great! We saw Bewitched Beautiful Sensei, too🎃🧛‍♀️🧙🏽‍♀️We had a blast watching all the movies. The last movie was Office Royal: Hell's Garden, a hilarious Halloween treat! Thank you all for coming! 🙌🎬❤️

🎥✨ The Students of the Japanese Program are organizing the incredible Japanese Film Festival from October 25th to October 30th! 🎉🎞️

One film that we absolutely cannot miss is Sumikko Gurashi! Come to enjoy this adorable and heartwarming anime😻 And don't miss the Halloween costume contest!🎃

Looking for a great course on Japanese culture next semester at the UofM? Check out LALI4500! Taught in English and no prerequisite.

Thank you to our dedicated Japanese students and faculty who volunteered for the St.Jude Hospital’s Heritage Festival (10/4) representing Japan🇯🇵🙌 A special shout-out to Fujii-sensei, who led the delegate and prepared for the presentation.
You all made this event a huge success!

October’s Japanese Culture Club at the Benjamin Hooks Central Library is this Saturday (10/7, 10:30 - noon)! The theme is Yokai 妖怪😈 👻 Join us with your family and friends!

JET Program recruiting is in full swing for the 2024 application period. The JET Program Coordinator, Tye-san, from the Consulate General of Japan in Nashville, will come to our Japanese weekly language table virtually on Oct 6 at 1:45 p.m. to talk about JET. Any UofM students and our alumni are welcome.

Congratulations to JOI coordinator, Maika-san for winning the Memphis Public Libraries’ Satterfield Volunteer of the Year Award! What a joy to have a wonderful JOI coordinator like her in Memphis! Maika-san, thank you for all you do for our students and the Memphis community! Arigato!

Sydney is one of the JET teachers selected from UM Japanese Tigers last year and reporting her experiences for us! I’m so happy to announce that this year, we will send at least FIVE new tiger-JETs to Japan😻 Our students are the best! Congratulations! 🎉🎊 tigers

Registration for summer and fall started! If you want to jump-start Japanese or come up to the third-year Japanese quickly, we have summer online courses!

Traveling and studying abroad are valuable experiences that not all University of Memphis students can afford. Even a short summer trip can be transformative for our students. Your gift of just $5 will fund scholarships for the University of Memphis students majoring in World Languages to help them study abroad. Please visit this site for more information: https://momentum.memphis.edu/project/36395

Learn about Japanese culture and language from Maika, the JOI coordinator, and UM Japanese students! A monthly free event💮🌸😻

There are many opportunities to learn about Japanese culture in Memphis, thanks to the JOI coordinator Maika san and the students/faculty in the UM Japanese program! Join us for all these events and get involved to teach what you learned to the people in the local community!

Welcome back to school! Our weekly Japanese language table will start on Jan 27, 2023 (Fri 12:45-1:45 PM 249). Kakehashi group will share a lot of fun stories about their trip at the table during this semester! Some of them were featured in the local newspaper!

Happy end of the semester! We celebrated the achievement of new graduates (8 students), new JNHS inductees (5 students), and those exchange students from Japan who completed their study abroad in Memphis! We are all so proud of your accomplishment! Congratulations! おめでとうございます㊗️

Fletcher, the current president of SOTJP, is one of five graduating Japanese students inducted into the Japanese National Honor Society this semester! Congratulations!

Meet your Senpai! You don't have to go far to find our successful former Japanese students. We have one right here on campus. Ms. Amber Bush, M.S., is the Associate Dean of Students for Student Accountability. Amber says she enjoyed studying Japanese and “my time studying abroad in Japan was one of the most impact and important times of my life. I can’t put into words how it changed and grew me. I miss Japan dearly and plan to return very soon.”

Carmesha is one of five Japanese students inducted into the Japanese National Honor Society this semester! Congratulations!

Memphis Japan Festival is this Sunday! -japan-joi and will introduce Japanese culture (tents #2& #3), our graduate students will lead the Japanese lesson, and our own Allison Kiefer will be an mc for the stage performance! It’ll be a lot of fun! We’ll see you all this Sunday!

The University of Memphis is a partner organization of the Memphis Japan Festival (Nov 6, 9:30-4 p.m.), and we are looking for student volunteers! If interested, please contact your Japanese teachers, the JOI coordinator, Maika san, or the Students of The Japanese Program. It’ll be a fun, family-friendly festival!!

We always love to hear from our alumni! Zoe just arrived in Kobe, Japan, as a JET ALT and got to see the moon over the beautiful Himeji castle!
“姫路城でのお月見、楽しかったです！I went with a large group of ALTs, and it was just amazing! They are all so kind and glad I got to spend time with them! It was a really good time before starting my first full week of teaching 3rd and 4th year students!” Good luck with your new adventure, Zoe!! We are all cheering for you from here!

Come join us to learn about this popular post-graduate program! We are pleased to welcome Mr. Tye Ebel, JET Program and MEXT Coordinator, from
Consulate-General of Japan, Nashville, on campus!

Friendly reminder for the Study Abroad information session! Don’t miss it! 😸

8/30 (Tue)2:30-3:30 PM 212

Join us and meet new friends from Japan!