The University of Mount Union Japanese program was recently awarded the Japan Foundation’s Japanese Teaching Material Purchase Grant. The $1,000 grant allows educational institutions in the U.S. to purchase teaching materials for their Japanese-language courses.

Dr. Noriko Okura, visiting assistant professor in Japanese, applied for the grant and will use the award to purchase Japanese teaching materials. Teaching materials include preparatory books for the Business Japanese Proficiency Test, guidebooks to obtaining a job in Japan and books about Japanese business and culture, as well as cookbooks, dictionaries and picture books.

Okura hopes her students will engage with Japanese via reading and exposure to Japanese culture.

“In Japan, people say fall is the best season for reading,” said Okura. “Reading develops the brain in many ways.”

For more information about Mount Union’s Japanese program, visit mountunion.edu/japanese.