Faculty
Full-Time Professors
Kayo Matsushita
Kayo Matsushita is a Professor in the College of Intercultural Communication and the Graduate School of Intercultural Communication. Based on her experiences as a conference interpreter and journalist, her research addresses the issues surrounding translation and interpreting in the media. In recent years, her area of interest has also expanded to the impact of technology on interpreting/interpreters, especially in remote settings. She has served as a Board Member (2018-2022) and Head of the Kanto Chapter (2020-2022) of The Japan Association for Interpreting and Translation Studies (JAITS). She obtained her M.S. from the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University and her Ph.D. from the Graduate School of Intercultural Communication at Rikkyo University. She is the author of When News Travels East: Translation Practices by Japanese Newspapers (Leuven University Press, 2019) and contributed a chapter to edited volumes such as Translating Crises (Bloomsbury, 2022) and Journalism and Translation in the Era of Convergence (John Benjamins, 2019). For more publications, click here.
Courses taught during the 2025 Academic Year include: Introduction to Translation and Interpreting Studies, Translation and Interpreting Practicum, Advanced Practicum in Translation and Interpreting B, Conference Interpreting 1 and News Translation in a Globalized World
Masaru Yamada
Masaru Yamada is a Professor in the College of Intercultural Communication and the Graduate School of Intercultural Communication. Drawing on insights from his experience as a linguist and project manager in the translation industry, his current research explores translation processes and technologies, including Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT), Machine Translation (MT), Post-Editing (PE), and Large Language Models (LLM), as well as Machine Translation in Language Teaching (mTILT). His publications include Jido Hon'yaku Taizen (English Hacker's Handbook), Metalanguages for Dissecting Translation Processes, ChatGPT Hon'yaku Jutsu (ChatGPT Translation Skills), and ChatGPT Eigo Gakushuu Jutsu (ChatGPT English Learning Skills). For more publications, click here.
Courses taught during the 2025 Academic Year: Introduction to Translation, Introduction to Translation and Interpreting Research, Technologies for Translators and Interpreters, Principles and Methods in Translation, Advanced Practicum in Translation and Interpreting A and Advanced Practicum in Translation and Interpreting B
Kayoko Takeda
Kayoko Takeda is a Specially Appointed Senior Professor in the College of Intercultural Communication and the Graduate School of Intercultural Communication. From 2018 to 2019, she was a Visiting Fellow at the University of Cambridge. Coming from her seasoned background as a professional interpreter and translator, she is conducting research on the history, education, and sociocultural aspects of translation and interpreting. She serves as a member of the Advisory Board of Interpreting and Translation in Society; and as a member of the Editorial Board of Translation History (a Palgrave book series). Until 2011, she was the Head of the Japanese translation and interpreting program at the Monterey Institute of International Studies (currently known as the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey). During her time in the United States, she trained interpreters for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and worked with the Canadian government in its interpreter exams. She was also a certified court interpreter in the State of California. She obtained her M.A. in Translation and Interpreting from the Monterey Institute of International Studies, and her Ph.D. in Translation and Intercultural Studies from Rovira i Virgili University. For her publications, click here.
Courses taught during the 2025 Academic Year include: Introduction to Interpreting and Introduction to Translation and Interpreting Research
Jihyeon Kim
Jihyeon Kim is an Assistant Professor in the College of Intercultural Communication. As a practice-based researcher, she has developed a keen interest in key topics regarding the practice of court interpreting in Japan, along with relevant interpreting theories and their practical applications. She obtained her Ph.D. degree in International Communication Studies (Interpretation Studies) from Waseda University in 2022, with the submission of her doctoral thesis titled “Revisiting the Interpreter’s Role in the Bilingual Courtroom: Normative Roles, Users’ Expectations, and the Status Quo of Court Interpreters in Japan.” Her research has been presented in peer-reviewed journals and conferences, such as Critical Link International, International Association for Forensic and Legal Linguists, and Japan Association for Language and Law. She previously worked as a Research Associate and Assistant Professor from 2020 to 2022 at Waseda University before assuming her current position at Rikkyo University.
Courses taught during the 2025 Academic Year include: Topics in Translation and Interpreting and Exploring Intercultural Communication C
Part-Time Lecturers
Misae Otsuka
Misae Otsuka is a subtitle translator. As a freelancer, she primarily translates films, television series, documentaries, and various other programs. Additionally, she imparts her expertise in subtitle translation at Wise Infinity School and Fellow Academy. Since 2019, she has served as a part-time lecturer at Kansai University. She also pursued doctoral studies at the Graduate School of Letters at Osaka University before withdrawing from the program.
Courses taught during the 2025 Academic Year include: Intermediate Translation 1 and Translation Seminar 2
Yoshikazu Katori
Yoshikazu Katori is a Part-Time Lecturer at Sophia University and Aoyama Gakuin University. He has years of experience translating articles, periodicals, project proposals, brochures, and activity reports for clients, including the American Embassy, United Nations Information Centre, British Council, Goethe-Institut and Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF). Since 2010 he has been annotating English news texts for learners of English on the website of an NHK education program titled “News de Eikaiwa,” renamed “News de Eigojutsu” in 2018 and “News de Manabu Gendai Eigo” in 2022. In 2020 he authored and supervised an online translation training program and an English reading comprehension course for DHC, a cosmetic and publishing company. He taught at Interschool Tokyo, a translation school, from 1990 to 2010. He obtained his M.A. from the Graduate School of Intercultural Communication at Rikkyo University.
Courses taught during the 2025 Academic Year: Translation Seminar 1 and Intermediate Translation 2
Tokihisa (Andy) Sumimoto
Tokihisa (Andy) Sumimoto is a Part-Time Lecturer at Sophia University, Kansai University’s Graduate School, and Kunitachi College of Music. A conference interpreter by profession, he has interpreted for over 470 public companies in their management and investor relations meetings. He also frequently interprets for the U.S. and Japanese governments in their national security and defense-related meetings. He received his M.I.A.from Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs and his Ph.D.from Soka University, where he was a Visiting Scholar at the Peace Research Institute. He is the author of Religion, State, and Political Culture in Japan: Implications for the Post-Secular World (Rowman & Littlefield, 2023).
Courses taught during the 2025 Academic Year: Conference Interpreting 2
Mutsuko Tsuboi
Mutsuko Tsuboi is a Part-Time Lecturer at Toyo University and Juntendo University. Her research interest focuses on translation practice in media discourse and conflict from the perspectives of linguistic anthropology, sociolinguistics, and intercultural communication. She obtained both her M.A. and Ph.D. from the Graduate School of Intercultural Communication at Rikkyo University. She is the author of Bosunia funsō hōdō: Media no hyōshō to honyakukōi (News Coverage of the Bosnian Conflict: Media Representation and Translation Acts) (Misuzu Shobo, 2013), and contributed a chapter to edited volumes such as Kyōkai to shūen: Shakaigengogaku no atarashii chihei (Boundaries and Peripheries: New Directions for Japanese Sociolinguistics) (Hitsuji Shobo, 2025), Tsūji, Interpreters in and Around Early Modern Japan (Palgrave, 2023), and Media to kotoba 5: Seiji to media (Media and Language 5: Politics and Media)(Hitsuji Shobo, 2020).
Courses taught during the 2025 Academic Year: Seminar in Translation and Interpreting Studies
Blake Baguley
Blake Baguley is a Japanese-English interpreter and translator. He obtained his M.A. in Japanese Interpreting and Translation from the University of Queensland in Australia in 2012 and NAATI (Australia’s National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters) certification as a Certified Conference Interpreter and Certified Translator. He built up experience as an in-house interpreter and translator at several companies in Japan while continuing interpreting studies at NHK Global Media Services, before going freelance in 2019. He covers diverse industries but his main area of interest is in life sciences (medical devices, healthcare, etc.).
Courses taught during the 2025 Academic Year include: Introduction to Simultaneous Interpreting and Introduction to Conference Interpreting
Naomi Yuki
Naomi Yuki is a Japanese-English interpreter and translator. After working as a full-time interpreter at the Association for Overseas Technical Scholarship (currently known as The Association for Overseas Technical Cooperation and Sustainable Partnerships), she obtained her M.A. in Translation and Interpretation from the Monterey Institute of International Studies (currently known as the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey). She worked as a Lecturer in the Translators Training Course at the ISS Institute in Nagoya from 2005 to 2011, as a Part-Time Lecturer at Tsukuba Gakuin University from 2007 to 2009 and Tsuru University from 2021 to 2022, and as an instructor at a translation school from 2012 to 2023.
Courses taught during the 2025 Academic Year: Consecutive Interpreting