The Japanese program was proud to hold a Research Showcase on Wednesday 17 May, with presentations from four of our students taking JAPN490 ‘Capstone Research Thesis’. This course gives students the opportunity (and the challenge!) to produce a mini-thesis written in Japanese. Our showcase was in English, to give all the students in the Japanese program a chance to benefit from their sempai’s research. Three students from the full 3-credit option and one student from the 1-credit option talked about their research motivations, discoveries and suggestions for further research in the field. Mark Acosta presented ‘Trends in Social Perceptions of HRI (Human-Robot Interaction’, Brenton Baker presented ‘Mental Illness and Japanese Literature: a case study of Natsume Soseki, Akutagawa Ryunosuke and Dazai Osamu’ while Iliana Burgos presented ‘Stories of Humility and Harmony: exploring religious themes and spiritual strength through Miyazawa Kenji’s children’s literature.’ They were joined by Ashley Faulkner, with ‘A Look at Okinawa: environmental degradation and conservation’.