By Risa Seu
Meet our new Japan CPC! His name is Ryota Sakurai.
Ryota is born and raised in Machida (Tokyo, Japan). Ryota got his undergraduate degree at ICU (International Christian University) in education philosophy. he then proceeded to work as a special education teacher from 2001 until 2015 until he realized his passion for Japanese literature. he went back to ICU where he got his masters in Japanese literature, specifically in poems.
He met his wife, who lives with him right outside of the CC campus, at ICU where he approached her extensively until he got her to turn her head for him. She studied English Education during her undergrad and taught English to high school students. She then went back to school to get a bachelor of arts degree in theology and then came to Colorado. She hopes to continue her theology studies while she is here with the various religious building around us that she did not see in Tokyo.
He moved to the United States, specifically to Colorado, in hopes to educate students and the people here about Japanese literature. CC and ICU have a great connection, which is how he landed his job here. Although in Japan, he had never heard of Colorado, he was very excited about living in a new country and discovering the beauty of Colorado with his wife. Ryota loves traveling and has been traveling his whole life.
He lived in Russia when he was 12-15 years old, due to his Father’s work, who was a middle school English teacher. During his time in Russia, his parents took him around to many countries in Europe, such as France, Germany, England, Sweden, Latvia, and Lithuania. He really enjoyed observing people’s behaviors and cultures in other countries. He has also since gone on adventures traveling around Japan.
At CC, he hopes to teach the Japanese language and its literature to the students. However, he does not want to solely teach it but aspires to learn together with the students and appreciate Japan’s culture and literature together with them. He also hopes to realize new perspectives. He also wants to have events together with his wife, where everyone would feel welcomed and have a lot of fun while being educated about Japanese culture.
