Foreign Minister’s Commendations for FY2025 - Yoshiko Mori

On August 28, 2025 (Japan Time), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan announced the recipients of the Foreign Minister’s Commendations for FY 2025. Professor Mori is among this year’s foreign recipients. She will receive the Commendation in recognition of her outstanding contributions to promoting Japanese Language education in the United States.

Professor Mori earned her Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1996 and has been teaching at Georgetown University for nearly 30 years. Through her dedication to education, she has nurtured the development of a new generation of Japan specialists in the United States. She has also made significant contributions to the advancement of Japanese language education and research by publishing numerous papers on second language acquisition from both the linguistic and psychological perspectives.

In 2024, Professor Mori was appointed president of the American Association of Teachers of Japanese (AATJ), an organization with approximately 1,000 members. In this capacity, she has worked to strengthen collaboration in Japanese language education across all levels, from elementary through higher education. Moreover, when issues such as the downsizing or closure of Japanese language programs have arisen at institutions across the U.S., she has taken the lead at the AATJ in advocating alongside those institutions and relevant authorities, thereby contributing to the promotion and preservation of Japanese language education.

Every year, the Foreign Minister’s Commendations are awarded to individuals and groups with outstanding achievements in international fields, in order to acknowledge their contributions to the promotion of friendship between Japan and other countries and areas. The Commendations also aim to promote the understanding and support of the Japanese public for the activities of the recipients.