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JAPANES by Aarya Kumar and Elijah Tillemann
Even with the departure of longtime Sensei Koji Otani and the loss of an entry-level class, Japanese at Jefferson continues to flourish
D
on! The sound of bachi wood mallets slam against black trash cans covered in tape. Sweat drips off the drummer’s forehead as the intense routine comes to a close. Despite a year full of setbacks and a smaller class size, the Jefferson Japanese program is returning with a bang.
PROGRAM PROBLEMS
Japanese 1 is not offered this year due to low student interest. Students entering the Japanese program at Jefferson will now have
to begin studying at the Japanese 2 level. This hit the Japanese program hard, as Japanese 1 was a way of bringing new members into the program. “In the past we’ve had an increased amount of interest in the Japanese language. I’m not sure exactly why they took [Japanese 1] away. Two years ago, last time we had in-person school, we had the largest Japanese one class we’ve had in a long time, almost 30 people,” senior Alyssa Rask said. The loss of Japanese 1 for the
2021-2022 school year is only one of the many changes made to the program. For example, their former full time teacher Koji Otani has been replaced with part time teacher Fumiko Kuriki. “[Otani Sensei] got us so many connections and gave us so many opportunities, so [losing him was] definitely was a big hit. He knew a lot of people at the Japanese Embassy, so [we had access to] those connections,” Rask said.
COMMUNITY ASSISTANCE
Other teachers have stepped in to fill the hole left by Otani. Spanish teacher Andre De Megret has become the sponsor of Japanese Culture Club (JCC) and Kuriki has been working hard to fill the gaps left by the pandemic in her
ILLUSTRATIONS // Evelyn Li
