Japan One - Text
Subject was born and raised in Tokyo, starting his English education at 13. After college in Japan he left for America at age 27, gaining his master's degree and Ph.D. in America. He was close to retirement from his position as a professor of theatre specializing in Asian theatre when interviewed by Paul Meier in Lawrence, KS, USA in 1999. Despite more than thirty years in the US, the subject is still a good model for Japanese-American speech, displaying, for example, the occasional "r/l" substitution.
Running time: 02:27
Transcription of Unscripted Speech
I was born in Tokyo, Japan and uh, uh, started studying English when I was uh, at the uh first year of middle school, so, when I was thirteen years old. And, uh, that was during the wartime, so uh, emphasis on English learning wasn't, uh, too much. And, but, uh, after we uh, finished the war, and I was in, uh, third year, uh, the uh..studying English became more serious, and I had, uh the fortune of studying extra after school hours with uh, uh somebody who had studied in uh, USA, uh, in his youth, so, um, I picked up uh, uh a good uh practice in particularly speaking and hearing. And, uh, I majored in English, at uh college, and taught four years of English at junior high school, uh, before I left Japan at the age of 27, and I spent a year in Canada before I came to USA, and I finished my master's degree as well as Ph.D, and uh, taught uh, thirty-four years in, uh universities at, uh, in the USA, and uh, here at the University of Kansas. I taught thirty years in theater and film, uh especially specializing in Asian theater with an emphasis on Japanese traditional theater.