Japanese Language Teaching Staff

Director

Wesley Jacobsen

jacobsen@fas.harvard.edu

Professor of the Practice of Japanese Language

Director of the Japanese Language Program

On Leave Fall 2024

Professor Wesley Jacobsen was born in Tokyo and raised largely in Japan, returning to the U.S. in his later high school years. After graduating from Wheaton College (Illinois) with undergraduate degrees in Mathematics and Religious Studies, he pursued a...

A Caucasian man with short brown hair grins winsomely at the camera while wearing a suit and tie

Senior Preceptors

Yuko Kageyama-Hunt

kageyama@fas.harvard.edu

Senior Preceptor in Japanese

On leave in academic year 2025-26

Yuko Kageyama-Hunt has been teaching in the Japanese Language Program (JLP) since 2001, first as a preceptor, then since 2013 as senior preceptor. She has taught and/or revamped the curricula of several levels of instruction in the JLP. As senior...

Yuko Kageyama-Hunt

Preceptors

Naomi Asakura

nasakura@fas.harvard.edu

Preceptor in Japanese

Smiling woman with long black hair pulled into a pony tail and wearing a pink cardigan smiles at the camera in front of a white backdrop.

Asako Higurashi

asakohigurashi@fas.harvard.edu

Preceptor in Japanese

A Japanese woman with short hair smiles

Hana Ikeda

hikeda@fas.harvard.edu

Acting Preceptor in Japanese

Language Instructor in Japanese

A Japanese woman with long brown hair smiles broadly at the camera

Chikako Takehara

ctakehara@fas.harvard.edu

Preceptor in Japanese

On Leave Spring 2026

A young woman in a loose-fitting white top with shoulder-length straight black hair smiles at the camera in front of a background of flowering bushes.

Drill Instructors

Hana Ikeda

hikeda@fas.harvard.edu

Acting Preceptor in Japanese

Language Instructor in Japanese

A Japanese woman with long brown hair smiles broadly at the camera

Asahi Matsumoto

asahimatsumoto@fas.harvard.edu

Language Instructor in Japanese

A Japanese woman with long hair and wearing a dark blue coat smiles at the camera in a field full of snow

Maiko Nakatani

maiko_nakatani@fas.harvard.edu

Acting Preceptor in Japanese

Nakatani Maiko

Sae Tagawa

saetagawa@fas.harvard.edu

Language Instructor in Japanese

A Japanese woman in a bright pink sweater smiles at the camera in the great outdoors

Eiko Takeichi Hodes

ehodes@fas.harvard.edu

Language Instructor in Japanese

A Japanese woman squints in the sun as she smiles at the camera