Daiwa Scholars in Japanese Studies 2018

Marcus Eagle

Marcus Eagle graduated from the University of Leeds in 2018 with a 1st in his BA Japanese and Spanish with a distinction in spoken Japanese. As part of his degree, he spent his second year of study at Waseda University. Marcus is interested in Japanese society and linguistics. He began an MA in Japanese Studies at the International Christian University in September 2019, and is interested in researching how spoken and written Japanese have changed over time. Specifically, he aims to investigate how changes in the Japanese language through the progression of the 1992 Asset Price Bubble crash reflect Western academic interpretations of the ‘Lost Decade’. His long-term aim is to promote international exchange between Japan and the UK, either through work in a Japanese company, or by pursuing academia.

He completed his MA in September 2021, following which he joined the Marketing Global Graduate Programme with British American Tobacco in Tokyo.

Rebecca Paterson

Rebecca Paterson graduated with a 1st in her BA Japanese Studies degree from the University of Cambridge in 2016. She spent her year abroad at Osaka University as a Japanese Government (MEXT) Scholar. Rebecca spent time working at a private English language school as a mentor and interpreter for Japanese students in the UK. Her experiences in education inspired her interest in language learning and acquisition, and in April 2018 she began a two-year MA in Foreign Language Acquisition and Education at Kyoto University’s Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies, Faculty of Integrated Human Studies. Her research focussed on the role of metacognition in English language learning and acquisition in Japanese students. Following this two-year programme, she wishes to remain in the field of education, either as a researcher or an educator.

After completing her MA in 2020, she began a PhD at the Division of Educational and Cognitive Psychology at the Faculty of Education, Kyoto University. Her research focus has shifted slightly to the cognitive mechanisms of foreign language speaking anxiety such as the issues of attention and cognitive load.

Nicola Phillips

Nicola Phillips graduated with a 2.1 in her BA Oriental Studies (Japanese) degree from the University of Oxford in 2015, spending her year abroad at Kobe University. Since graduating, Nicola has travelled extensively, working for NGOs and teaching English in Hong Kong and then in Peru. She also freelances in Japanese to English translation, and writes about social and environmental issues for The Intelligence Brief. In September 2019, Nicola  finished an MA in Social Anthropology at SOAS, University of London, investigating the Japanese sex industry. She conducted ethnographic research into history of prostitution in Japan, the commercialisation of sex and intimacy, and the decreased desire for conventional relationships. In the long-term, Nicola aspires to write and create media for a cross-cultural organisation, with a focus on Japan.

Dorothy Finan

Dorothy Finan graduated with a 1st in her BA Oriental Studies (Japanese) from the University of Oxford in 2017. She spent her year abroad at Kobe University, during which time she investigated the valorisation of “struggle” within female idol group narratives for her undergraduate dissertation. She  completed an MA in Contemporary Japan at the University of Sheffield in September 2018, where she then began a PhD in East Asian Studies in September 2018, conducting research into the thematic importance of “adolescence” in Japanese contemporary music.