Elementary Japanese I and II

Naomi Asakura was born in Toyama, Japan. She completed the Alliance for Language Learning and Educational Exchange (ALLEX) teacher training program at Portland State University, where she received her MA in Japanese. Before coming to Harvard, she taught beginning to advanced Japanese language courses at the University of Southern California and Franklin & Marshall College. She has also taught intense summer courses at Middlebury College, International Christian University, and Hokkaido International Foundation. She joined the Japanese Language Program at Harvard University in 2019. Her current research focuses on language acquisition, improving curriculum design, and the development of content-based instruction.

Asahi Matsumoto is a Japanese language instructor at Harvard University. In the 2024-2025 academic term, she taught both first- and second-year Japanese at Harvard University. She holds a master's degree in modern languages from the University of Mississippi, where she also served as a Japanese teaching assistant for two years.