2019 Committee
The Japanese Program at The George Washington University is grateful for the invaluable support from the following individuals.
Advisory Committee
John Malott
Amb. John R. Malott served as President of the Japan-America Society of Washington, DC from 2006 to 2018. Prior to that, his 31-year career in the US Foreign Service included assignments as US Ambassador to Malaysia, US Consul General in Osaka, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia, Director of the State Department's Office of Japanese Affairs, American Consul in Bombay, Economic Officer at the US Embassy in Tokyo, and civilian adviser during the Vietnam War. He is a graduate of Northwestern University and the National War College. In April 2017, the Government of Japan announced the awarding of the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon to Amb. Malott in recognition of his lifelong contributions toward strengthening the relationship and friendship between Japan and the United States of America.
Yoshiko Mori
Dr. Yoshiko Mori is an Associate Professor and the Director of the Japanese Language Program in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at Georgetown University. Her specialization is in second-language learning and instruction. She has published her work on second language kanji learning, the role of learner perceptions in vocabulary learning, and heritage language learning, in major journals including Language Learning, Modern Language Journal, and Foreign Language Annals. She has taught numerous college-level Japanese language courses from the introductory to the advanced levels, as well as courses in linguistics and second language learning. She currently serves as Co-President of the Mid-Atlantic Association of Teachers of Japanese.
Yoko Lawless
Ms. Yoko Lawless is the US representative of The Naganuma School, The Tokyo School of Japanese Language. Ms. Lawless has worked as a management consultant for various global companies. She is a council member of The Japan-America Society National Japan Bowl and participated in the selection of JET Program participants for more than 10 years. She is a graduate of Seikei University, and has studied Global HR Management at Cornell University and Executive Leadership at Georgetown University.
Noriko Otsuka
Ms. Noriko Otsuka is a Japanese Immersion teacher at Fox Mill Elementary School in Virginia. She is a member of the National Japan Bowl Council and the Japanese Language Education Advocacy and Resource Network (J-LEARN), and writes questions for the National Japan Bowl and the Mid-Atlantic Junior Japan Bow. She served as Co-President for the Mid-Atlantic Association of Teachers of Japanese for 2018-2019. She majored in International Relations at Tsukuba University and earned M. Ed in Curriculum and Instruction from George Mason University.