Noah Miles is a professor at the University of Wyoming who teaches the Japanese language and many aspects of Japanese culture. When Miles first got this position, there was only a Japanese language class and no Japanese cultural classes.
“So, the first thing I did was create an anime class, then a manga class… I started taking students to Japan, and I created a film class, the culture class, and the travel abroad class,” said Miles.
Miles’ interest in Japanese culture began when he was 18 years old when he took a Japanese class during his first year at the University of Iowa.
“I was kinda interested in Buddhism… I wasn’t motivated by anime, I wasn’t motivated by being a businessman, or by a Japanese girlfriend. I was motivated by Buddhism really,” said Miles.
After initially dropping out of college after his first year, Miles returned to the university to get his degree in Japanese with an emphasis on comparative literature at 33 years old.
Miles originally used his degree to translate poetry from Japanese to English, but this turned out to be quite a difficult job.
“First of all, there is no demand, no one is demanding japanese poetry in english… you have to be a native speaker and probably a poet,” said Miles.
After teaching in the Liberal Arts Department at Tyler Junior College and the University of Texas in Tyler, Miles transferred to the English Department at the University of Wyoming in 2011.
Once the previous Japanese professor left, Miles was asked to take over the program here at UW.
“I love introducing people to Japanese culture… I feel very lucky,” said Miles.
