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.

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.

Claire Gallion is a sophomore at Vassar college and is a Psychology and Japanese double major. She enjoys studying Japanese, but is also a fan of Japanese literature and film. Outside of JSB, she works at Maruichi, and her hobbies include knitting, listening to music, and taking walks with her friends.

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.

Ian was born and raised in Bristol, Rhode Island. He has been interested in Japanese history and culture from an early age after wearing out old VHS tapes of Godzilla films. Ian graduated from Roger Williams University with a degree in History, East Asian Studies, and Film, Animation, & Video. He lived and worked in Noto, Ishikawa through the JET Program and is now back home working to bridge US and Japanese cultures. 

Emily is a 2021 M.A. graduate of the Department of Theater & Performance Studies from Stanford University. She also holds a B.A. in Comparative Literature from Columbia University and spent four years in Ibaraki Prefecture on the JET Programme. In addition to working with JSB, Emily currently teaches Japanese Performance as a remote adjunct instructor at Rikkyo University. She hopes to work in Japan again in the future.

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!

Kira graduated from the University of Rhode Island and studied abroad for a year at Kochi University in Japan. She double majored in Art and Computer Science and minored in Japanese. In the summer she works as a kayak guide in southeast Alaska. She loves Japan and Japanese, anime, the outdoors, drawing, climbing, music, and adventures of all sorts!