Academic Work

In March, 2008, I retired from Japan Women's University after teaching linguistics for 35 years. I served as an adjunct professor at the graduate schools of the University of Tokyo, Osaka University, Kobe University, Tohoku University, Tokyo Metropolitan University and Waseda University. I also taught at the University of Hawaii, Manoa.

I served on a number of government commissions, including the Cultural Commission, the Language Planning Commission (where I served as the chair), and the Authorized Textbook Examining Commission.

I am serving as an editorial member of Journal of Pragmatics, Language in Society, Discourse and Society, Pragmatics and Cognition, Monograph Series of Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, and Studies in Pragmatics.

My academic interests are sociolinguistics, pragmatics and cross-cultural communication. Topics of interest centered around politeness and women's language in the earlier phase of my career. My most recent interest is pragmatics based on the theory of 'ba' / field.