About Us

Naoko Takayanagi was born and raised in Tokyo. She received a B.A. in Modern Languages from McGill University and an M.A. in International Public Administration from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. She worked in corporate banking, asset management, and financial translation, and has extensive experience teaching Japanese.

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Christopher is a student at Boston University, where he majors in both Voice Performance and Japanese. He wishes to bridge his studies together to explore and spread Japanese music and culture throughout the world.

Noah Coltani was born in Seattle and attended public schools in Tokyo throughout his childhood summers. His family lives in Setagaya-ku, and he enjoys visiting them every summer and winter. He graduated from Boston University and is currently attending Boston University School of Law. 

Julia Napier has a BA in East Asian Studies and a minor in Art History. She has spent three years in Japan and loves learning about Japanese pop culture, traditional culture, literature, film, and food.

Remy Kaldawy was born in New York and grew up in the greater Boston area. He is currently a student at Columbia University, where he studies mathematics. He has a passion for Japanese literature, which he has been cultivating since stumbling upon Kobo Abe’s The Woman in the Dunes. His favorite Japanese author is Yukio Mishima, the majority of whose works he is proud to have read. When he’s not puzzling over math, you can find him reading literature of all types, struggling to squeeze a half hour of exercise into his day, and scouring the mean city streets for a decent café.

Hannah Williams is a class of 2026 student at Wellesley College studying International Relations–Political Science and Japanese culture and language. Her mixed Japanese-Black background and experience living between the US and Japan motivates her academic/professional interests in intercultural engagement, migration studies, and Japanese diaspora. Her other hobbies include talking during movies, writing sci-fi short stories and watching Criminal Minds.

Joanne Ha was born in South Korea, and was raised in a multilingual and multigenerational household in Maryland. She graduated from Boston University with a BS in Film and Television, a BA in Religion, and a minor in Japanese language. Outside of JSB, she works as a freelance videographer and her current hobbies include tennis, nail design, and crochet!

Danielle Cochran has studied the Japanese language for almost 20 years. She has a BA in East Asian Studies and minor in Japanese Language from UMass Boston. The first time she lived in Japan was to study at Intercultural Institute of Japan and the second was for an internship at the Sakae Institute of Study Abroad. Her interests include gaming and horror movies!

Nadav Gerber was born and raised in the North Shore of the Boston area. He is a senior at Suffolk University majoring in Global Cultural Studies with a concentration in Asian Studies. Nadav studied Japanese with Showa Boston and took part in their College Connection Program. He spent the last two semesters studying at Kansai Gaidai University in Osaka and is a recipient of the 2023-2024 U.S. Japan Bridging Scholarship. Nadav is an avid fan of anime, video games, travelling, and Japanese cuisine. His favorites are Hakata Ramen, Miso Katsu, and anything Matcha.