Akiko Yasuike, Ph.D.

Professor of Sociology

Book this person as a speaker:

Email: ayasuike@callutheran.edu
Phone: (805) 493-3565

Speeches:

• Working Poor and Fertility Crisis in Japan
  An overview of the Japanese culture and the conditions and challenges faced by the working poor in Japan.

• The Identity and Networks of Japanese Transnational Corporate Wives
  Explore the unique cultures of Japan with a focus on the women who are transnational corporate wives.

• Gender and Immigration
  Explore the issues faced by women immigrants, especially women from Japan and other Asian countries

Dr. Akiko Yasuike is a Professor of Sociology and is affiliated with the Global Studies Program. She regularly teaches courses on families, immigration, global issues, and applied sociology. The required internship component of the applied sociology course enables students to investigate potential career pathways, cultivate the skills essential for their chosen professions, and gain invaluable work experience. Every three years, Dr. Yasuike and Dr. Medders, in the Department of Communication, lead a Japan travel seminar, during which students are introduced to Japanese society, popular culture, and media over the course of two-weeks in Japan. As an immigrant who was educated in both Japan and the United States, she incorporates global and cross-cultural perspectives into all of her courses. In 2010, she was the recipient of the Diversity Professor of the Year Award.

Her primary research interest is the integration of expatriate and immigrant groups into a global city, Los Angeles, and American society. Her first research project examined the reconstruction of gender relations among Japanese couples residing in Southern California. Subsequently, she shifted her focus to a group of immigrants who were marginalized due to a lack of immigration documentation but who were nevertheless well versed in the language, values, and beliefs of American society, due to their upbringing in the United States. Four first-generation college students were recruited to join the research team for this second project. She recently launched a new project examining the return migration of Japanese immigrants in Southern California. Over the past 18 years, she has mentored 15 undergraduate students on their research projects through the Pearson Scholars Summer Program for Leadership and Engagement in a Global Society, the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships, and the Culver Behavioral Science Research Fellowship. Those who conducted their research projects in their junior year have presented their findings at Pacific Sociological Association meetings or Southern California Conferences for Undergraduate Research.