"Louder, louder!" Though it was only 9 a.m. and the majority of the class was not completely awake, Prof. Hiroko Sekino (GRALL) energetically initiated conversations in Japanese with her students, geared up to begin her final week at the University.
Japanese students know Sekino as a colorful character. One student described her as "straight out of a comic book." Another described her coursework as "intense." At the end of this semester, her career as a Japanese instructor, spanning almost a quarter of a century at Brandeis, will come to an end.
"It does not feel like this is actually my last week. I am busy as usual and can't imagine what it will be like when I am finally done with this," said Sekino in an interview with the Justice.
Japanese is one of the few language programs at Brandeis that holds class five days a week. Sekino puts emphasis on the basics because she believes they go a long way when students are pursuing upper level classes.
Sekino came to the U.S. in the 1970s to study abroad at Boston University. "I was frazzled by the student activism in Japan at that time ... I felt I wanted to do something outside of Japan," she said in an interview with the Justice.
It was a big and difficult decision to move to the U.S, but she had no idea that this would become a turning point in her life. After studying at BU for two years, she became a Japanese teaching assistant at Harvard University. She felt like she had found something that she could be passionate about.
"I had a memorable mentor and amazing students ... It was an eye-opening change. It made me realize how fascinating and fun it was to teach Japanese," she said.
In 1988, she learned that Brandeis was looking for a Japanese instructor and wanted to give it a try. That summer, with one other Japanese instructor, Sekino initiated what would become the Japanese language program at Brandeis. "When I started here, Japanese was part of the Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies. We basically started from scratch," she said.
Initially ,the language department was limited and higher-level courses had to be taken elsewhere. Sekino explained that building the program was new terrain and that she learned as she went.
"Because I was a novice, I was trying to learn every year," Sekino said. She recalled it had been difficult to offer students more extensive courses on Japan. "It was very regrettable that we couldn't offer more courses to students who wanted to learn more," she said.
The Japanese language program was later extended to six semesters when it became part of the Department of German, Russian, and East Asian Languages and Literature in 2002. With the expertise of Prof. Matthew Fraleigh (GRALL) who joined the department in 2006, students are now able to take more integrated Japan-related courses that Brandeis offers, including contemporary Japanese history, literature and film courses.
In Sekino's 24 years of teaching at Brandeis, she has watched the department grow and evolve. She has seen the Japanese language student demographics change over time. "When the Japanese economy was prosperous, there were many global economy graduate students taking Japanese," she said. "For these [past] 10 years, more and more students are learning Japanese because of Japan's popular culture, like manga, anime and music."
Sekino explained that although Japanese is a difficult language to learn, she consistently found her students to be up to the task.
"What I like about teaching at Brandeis is that students here are really dedicated and hardworking," she said. "Japanese is not an easy language, but I always find my students are tough and motivated enough to get through it."
Prof. Yukimi Nakano (GRALL), a colleague of Sekino, said Sekino was always there for her students. "She is always willing to meet students after class and lend an ear to her students," she said. "She has also planned so many Japanese-related fun events and activities to make sure her students enjoy learning Japanese."
Esther Cho '14 remembers her first year taking Japanese as a worthy challenge. "We were pretty much guaranteed a quiz a week," she said. Though Cho admits that the first-year Japanese class was demanding, she said she must give credit to Sekino for providing a smooth transition to upper level Japanese courses.
"Sekino-sensei is very thorough when it comes to making sure her students have a strong foundation for subsequent years of Japanese language study," Cho said.
Sekino has developed special connections with many of her former students. "Some of them even write me New Year's cards! I teach Japanese, but more than that I have learned so much from my students," she said.
Sekino has always strived to instill in her students a global and cultural perspective that can be useful beyond Brandeis. "I don't just teach a language, but I teach Japanese culture as well. Teaching a language means teaching a culture. Understanding a language is one of the cornerstones for mutual understanding and I believe that will lead to a more peaceful world," she said.