CONTACT: Colby Turner
731-609-5507 cell
colbyrturner@gmail.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Oct. 15, 2020
Ryoko Poarch is one of the few Japanese Language professors at Middle Tennessee State University and the main supervisor of Japan Club. She lives in Murfreesboro with her husband and cats, who are her entire world. The cats probably outrank her husband, though.
Before becoming a professor, Poarch first fell in love with MTSU as an exchange student in 2010. Poarch began her educational journey at Kansai Gaidai University in her hometown, Osaka, Japan. She knew that she wanted to travel to America at some point in her educational career, but she never knew how much she would enjoy it. As soon as she landed, Poarch knew that she craved being here, specifically at MTSU. She fell in love with the culture and the friends that she made, but her real passion was learning. She loved connecting with the professors who took so much care to teach her English, so she immediately changed her major to education and began her journey to becoming a professor of language.
After returning home to Osaka, Poarch was ecstatic to tell everyone the news: she wanted to move to America. Her parents were mortified, but they gave in after some convincing. Poarch finished her degree and applied for graduate school at MTSU, where she eventually got her Master of Education in 2015. She immediately applied to be a professor at MTSU, and she got the job. Since then, she has made many friends and mentored many students on similar journeys to her own. With the help of a group of students in the Japanese major, she brought Japan Club to life in 2019. Her goal for Japan Club is to give American students the opportunity to experience cultural events that are specific to Japan to show them the beauty of the culture.
She enjoys planning the events the most, but she thinks the best part is seeing students smile during the events, even if they have a little seaweed in their teeth after eating one of her famous onigiri rice balls.
You can email her at Ryoko.Fujise@mtsu.edu.
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Middle Tennessee State University’s Japan Club was established by a group of friends in 2019 after rebranding from its old identity as Japanese Language Table, originally established in 2014. The club encourages students to share Japanese culture. It hosts information sessions regarding study abroad, educational movie nights and fun game nights. Japan Club grew very quickly, with numbers going from under 10 to over 30 within one semester. Visit the club on @mtsujapanclub.
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