Faculty and staff

Joe Sunami was born and raised in Japan. After graduating from Chuo University in Tokyo with a BA in Sociology, he spent several years in sales and marketing for an auto-manufacturer in Japan before pursuing his post-graduate education in North America. He started teaching the Japanese language to North American students in 1994 and has been staying in the Fraser Valley since 2003. Joe teaches all levels of Japanese courses from beginner to advanced. He enjoys visiting Shinto shrines, temples and castles. As an avid traveller and motorcyclist, he has visited 45 prefectures out of 47 Japanese prefectures. 

• MA Linguistics, Wayne State (Michigan)
• BA Sociology, Chuo University (Japan)

• Canadian Association for Japanese Language Education
• Japanese OPI Study Group

Japanese language is a communication tool for more than 120 million native speakers and further millions of speakers of Japanese as a foreign language. It also goes beyond being just a communication tool for those people. It is the centre of Japanese culture, which represents many values, beliefs, and behavioural patterns different from those seen in Western cultures. Students who learn Japanese will broaden their view of the world, become better communicators, and become people who can more easily contribute to society as global citizens.

Courses taught:

JAPN 101: Japanese Language I
JAPN 102: Japanese Language II
JAPN 201: Intermediate Japanese I
JAPN 202: Intermediate Japanese II
JAPN 301: Third-Year Japanese I
JAPN 302: Third Year Japanese II
JAPN 103: Japanse Study Tour

As a former tester of ACTFL-OPI (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages - Oral Proficiency Interview), he is an expert in evaluating each individual's language proficiency level. Joe's research interests are focused on developing pedagogy to effectively and efficiently help students to learn to communicate in Japanese.