Chaplin Memorial Award for Excellence in Japanese Language Teaching

2021 Call for Nominations

The Hamako Ito Chaplin Memorial Award will again be conferred in 2021, administered through the Association for Asian Studies. In accordance with the wishes of the Chaplin family, each year a prize of $1,000 will be awarded to either a current graduate student or a full-time instructor of Japanese for excellence in Japanese language teaching at the college-level. A full-time instructor who has completed graduate study within the last 3 years in an area that directly involves Japanese language teaching is eligible to apply. Possible academic fields of specialization are Japanese language pedagogy, linguistics, anthropology, or literature. Current graduate students must demonstrate their intention to enter the teaching field in a North American university. Professor Michiko Kaneyasu (Old Dominion University) serves as Chair of the Selection Committee, Professor Joan Ericson (Colorado College) serves as representative of the Northeast Asia Council of AAS for the committee, and Professor George Chaplin serves ex-officio.

Individuals interested in applying (self-nomination) and faculty members interested in nominating an eligible graduate student or instructor (nomination) — should download an application form at the following link:

You may also request the application form via email by contacting Dr. Michiko Kaneyasu (mkaneyas@odu.edu).

Completed applications must be submitted to the following email address by January 29, 2021: mkaneyas@odu.edu. The award will be announced in the AAS #AsiaNow blog.

2020 Award

The selection committee is pleased to announce that the 2020 Hamako Ito Chaplin Memorial Award will be jointly conferred to Ms. Yoko Hori (Instructor of Japanese, University of Arkansas) and Mr. Shunichi Maruyama (Ph.D. student, The Ohio State University). Ms. Hori has been playing a key role in the growth of the Japanese program at her university. Her excellent teaching ability and co-curricular efforts have led to enrollment boost and student retention in the past three years. Mr. Maruyama specializes in Japanese pedagogy and his current research focuses on narration in Japanese spoken language. He has clearly demonstrated a passion for pursuit of teaching excellence by proactively contributing to team-teaching projects, and by taking on leadership roles in organizing student-centered extra-curricular activities. The selection committee feels confident that both recipients have great promise and will make important contributions to the field of Japanese pedagogy in the coming years.

Past Awards