We met in front of our respective computers on Sunday night in Japan time and Saturday morning in U.S. time, crossing the borders of the time zones between the U.S. and Japan. “It’s been a while,” smiled Kazunori Nemoto, Yutaka Kubosawa and Ai Minakawa at the screen. The three members of the same generation have known each other since university and recently started an online meeting to read academic books and discuss various topics. Kazunori Nemoto teaches at a special school in Fukushima, and Yutaka Kubosawa works in Osaka helping deaf children acquire JSL. Ai Minakawa is a researcher at Gallaudet University in the U.S., working on health disparities among deaf people. All three were born to deaf parents, grew up using JSL, and now work as professionals in education or health care.
