TUJ Professor Junko Saito wins Munemasa Tokugawa Award in recognition of her outstanding research in sociolinguistic science.
- Research explores how corporate trainings shapes professional identity
- Study suggests structural change is needed to improve work-life balance
- Saito's research contributes to the important national conversation about labor, identity and workplace reform
Temple University, Japan Campus (TUJ) Professor Junko Saito of the Japanese Program has received the prestigious Munemasa Tokugawa Award in recognition of her outstanding research in sociolinguistic science. Her case study, titled “The Paradox of the Ideal Corporate Worker Identity: An Examination of Discourse at a Japanese Business Manners Training Camp,†was published in the journal of the Japanese Association for Sociolinguistic Sciences and was selected for the top honor.
Saito joined TUJ in 2010 as an adjunct professor and became a full-time faculty member in 2013. Her expertise lies in Japanese linguistics and sociolinguistics. She teaches Japanese language courses and her research interests include sociolinguistics, pragmatics, and discourse analysis, with a particular focus on workplace discourse, language and gender/sexuality, and identity construction.
Saito noted the rapid expansion of TUJ in recent years, with student enrollment growing quickly. She also observed increasing interest in learning Japanese among students from a wider range of nationalities.
How New Employees Become “Shakaijinâ€
Saito's award-winning study explored how corporate training programs in some Japanese companies shape new employees into shakaijin, a Japanese term referring to socially responsible working adults.
The study argues that workplace norms strongly influence professional identity formation and suggests that achieving meaningful work life balance will require deeper changes within corporate culture.
Saito said her latest work focuses on human resource training and development firms that train new employees on behalf of corporations in Japan. She obtained data from these firms, including recordings of training sessions, which she analyzed for her case study.
“My expertise is in sociolinguistics, which examines how language is used in society,†Saito said. “I frequently conduct discourse analysis in workplace settings by observing conversations during company meetings. This research on a corporate training was closely connected to my area of expertise, and as I looked deeper into the training, I found the topic especially interesting to study.â€
Helping Society Advance
Saito's research examined how corporate training programs used language shape worker identities and reinforce expectations on devotion to work. Saito concluded that even if the government advocates for better work life balance, meaningful change will not happen unless corporations themselves change their practices and expectations.
“In reality, corporations are still fostering what many would consider an old-fashioned model of the employee,†Saito said. “This often runs counter to what the government is promoting.â€
Saito's research offers an important perspective on how language shapes workplace culture and professional identity. Meaningful organizational change requires both a shift in communication and corporate expectations.
Munemasa Tokugawa Award
The Japanese Association for Sociolinguistic Sciences established the Munemasa Tokugawa Award in fiscal year 2000 in honor of the achievements of its first president, the late Munemasa Tokugawa, who passed away in June 1999, as well as his passion and dedication to founding the association.
The award is presented annually to particularly outstanding papers published in the association's journal, Sociolinguistic Sciences.
About Junko Saito
After Saito studied at American universities, she earned a doctoral degree in Japanese linguistics from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, a master's degree in Japanese pedagogy from the University of Iowa, and a bachelor's degree from Eastern Washington University.
â–¶ Professor Saito's Profile
