Kyle Maclauchlan
Academy Director
Hello, everyone! I’m sure you are excited to join this year’s Japanese Academy, and we are all excited to meet you. My name is Kyle Maclauchlan. I lived in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan for 11 years. Now, I want to share my love of Japan with students here in my home state of Virginia. I hope that the academy will encourage and empower you as you experience Japan’s language and culture.
While in Japan, I taught English at Miyagi Gakuin University, became a nationally recognized author, and was the first English speaking radio announcer for Japanese Professional Baseball. My hobbies were singing in a rock band, playing flute in the suzume odori festival, and eating as many kinds of ramen as I could find. Every day in Japan, I felt that speaking the language opened doors to wonderful opportunities for me– chances to try new things, go to new places, learn fascinating information, and meet amazing people. I hope I can now hand the key to those doors to our Academy students.
Currently, I teach Japanese at Randolph-Macon College, run a business called Adore Japan, and I direct Suzume Bachi, the only Suzume Odori festival team outside Japan! Our students recently performed at the Sakura Matsuri festival in Washington, D.C. -- we're having a lot of fun sharing Miyagi's festival culture here in the U.S.! While back in the states, I have also become a really big fan of origami!
There is a saying in Okinawan dialect: いちゃりばちょーでー！ It means, “Meet once, and we are family.” I hope that our time together in the academy will offer us all an opportunity to build bonds of friendship. After all, that is what language is all about – building bridges through communication and understanding.
Once again, welcome to the academy!
Sana Vien
Lead Teacher
こんにちは！ Hello, I hope everyone is excited for this year's academy!
My name is Sana Vien, and I will be this year's beginner class teacher and Lead Teacher. I've been a part of the Virginia Governor's Japanese academy six times, as a student, Resident Advisor, and now as a teacher.
My Japanese journey started when I was toddler and my family was deployed to Camp Zama. My family was gently influenced by the culture and brought some of it back to the States, and I grew more curious as I got older. I started learning the Japanese language in high school (partially influenced by all of the X Japan concert videos my mom showed me) and attended the University of Virginia studying Japanese Language and Literature and Biology.
Currently, I work as a retail manager for the Coast Guard Exchange System, Semper Paratus, and while I don't have the opportunity to use Japanese in my work, I still seek ways to keep it influencing my life. I listen to J-Rock and VIsual Kei almost everyday. My top three right now are Buck-Tick, MUCC, and X Japan. I also enjoy exploring traditional and modern literature; some Edogawa Ranpo, Junichiro Tanizaki, and Akutagawa. Lately, I've been intrigued by more visual horror mediums like Junji Ito's manga and youkai depictions from the Yumoto Koichi Collection.
I hope to share some of my interests and passions with all of you this summer!
よろしくお願いします。
Rie Hashimoto Bailey
Teacher
みなさん、おめでとうございます！（Congratulations！）＆ようこそ（Welcome）Virginia Governor’s Language Academyへ!!
My name is Rie Hashimoto Bailey (理絵・橋本・ベイリー). I am from Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. This is my 5th year to be an advanced class teacher. I am from a little different background than other SENSEI & SENPAI in this academy. I have a wide range of career backgrounds.
I am a REIKI Master and Teacher for more than half of my life and I’m an Eastern medicine practitioner.
I also trained in SHODO-Japanese calligraphy since I was 7 years old (because I was left-handed, my parents wanted to fix my hand habit, so, they put me in the school), and I hold a 7th-DAN degree in art. I won awards and had an exhibition at an art gallery in WA! I have been teaching SHODO at Japanese martial arts Dojo in Pennsylvania.
When I graduated high school, I attended a professional international tourism college in Japan and the U.S. After graduation, I was an international travel coordinator and traveled all over the world. (That’s when I met my husband in Guam). Since then, we lived in Spain, Washington State, Italy, and now Pennsylvania. (I speak Japanese, English, Spanish & Italian).
I always have passion for sharing my heritage of Japan with others. I am very excited and happy to be part of “Virginia Governor’s Language Academy” as one of the SENSEI this summer! Because of my background, I hope you FEEL a “SENSE OF JAPAN” that uses all 5 senses within you with the “FACE TO FACE” session through this program!
Let’s begin to have lots of FUN together!!
Joey Upadhyay
Teacher
Hi everyone!!! My name is Joey Upadhyay and I'm super excited to meet all of you!
I am originally from Colonial Heights, Virginia, and I recently moved to Greensboro North Carolina to work as a Japanese ⇔ English interpreter and translator for CSI Group, supporting a large Japanese automotive manufacturer. Before moving to North Carolina, I lived In Shizuoka, Japan for two years. As it is famous for Mt. Fuji, wasabi, and oden, I had a wonderful time!
I started studying Japanese when I was in elementary school because I was taking karate classes, and the more I learned the language and about the culture, the more enthralled I became. I participated in GJA in 2018 as a student in the intermediate class, and came back as a TA in 2020 and 2021. In 2022 and 2023, I came to teach the beginner class. After a two year hiatus when I was in Japan, I'm unimaginably excited to come back as a teacher again this year!
The reason I am passionate about GJA is because I was able to make deep connections with my peers, as well as with Japan. I hope that I can help provide the same opportunities to more students. I am still friends with several of my peers from 2018, and I would have never met them without having attended GJ
Lauren Cook
Lead Resident Assistant
Hi friends! This is my first year participating in the Academy, and I hope you’re looking forward to it as much as me! My name is Lauren Cook, and I am a very recent graduate from The College of William & Mary with a degree in Japanese Studies and a minor in Anthropology. I’ve always loved Japanese culture since I was a kid because of Pokemon.
I appreciate a variety of Japanese things from anime, video games, cosplay, J-fashion (especially gyaru) and more — I promise if it’s Japanese, we can chat about it!
I studied abroad in Japan for 6 months in Kanagawa prefecture, as well as worked as an intern for the International Academic Forum for the Asian Conference on Education in 2024. I also just had the wonderful opportunity to return to Japan this May to reunite with many classmates post graduation.
This year, I’ll be the lead Resident Assistant. Together, let’s make your memories of the Governor's Academy wonderful.
またね！ See you soon!
Gracie Byron
Resident Assistant
こんにちわみなさん！(Hello everyone) My name is Gracie Byron, and I am going into my Junior year at Virginia Tech. I am majoring in International Studies with a minor in Japanese. Some of my hobbies include: drumming with my band, boxing, reading manga, and building gunpla kits! In addition to English and a little Japanese, I also speak Spanish.
I attended the academy in 2023 and am excited to be coming back as an RA this year. I have fond memories of the academy, and I still keep in contact with everyone I met that summer!
I hope you all are looking forward to a wonderful experience, and I can’t wait to meet everyone!
Any Pacheco
Resident Assistant
こんにちは、みなさん！My name is Any Pacheco, and I’m a rising senior at the University of Virginia majoring in Computer Engineering with a minor in Japanese. I’m also fluent in Spanish since my family is from Honduras.
I attended the Governor’s Japanese Academy in 2022, and it honestly became one of the most memorable experiences I’ve ever had. I was already interested in Japanese before attending, but the academy made me love the language and culture even more. I met amazing people, made friendships that lasted long after the summer ended, and made memories I still think about all the time. Coming back now as an RA feels really special to me, and I’m excited to be part of the academy again this summer.
At UVA, I’ve gotten to work on a lot of fun projects, from building websites and apps to making circuits in my engineering classes, and I was also a teaching assistant for Digital Logic Design. I also do color guard in the Cavalier Marching Band, and one of my favorite things is going to football games and cheering on the team. In my free time, I enjoy reading books and manga, watching anime, listening to music, and playing video games. Some of my favorite foods are fruit with Tajín, pupusas, and ramen!
I’m really excited to meet everyone this summer and talk with you all! 楽しみにしています！ ne!