Building intercultural competencies through classroom activities
A study of how structured activities and reflection can develop intercultural competence among students in Japanese higher education.
Assistant Professor in Japan · Intercultural educator · Writer as Mazzi
Michal Maciej Mazur
Living and working in Japan since 2009 has taught me that communication across cultures is not a slogan; it is daily work. At Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, I turn that experience and my research into courses, faculty workshops, and multilingual learning environments where people can participate with greater confidence.
17
years living and working in Japan
since 28 March 2009
0000 days of everyday life in Japana small chronicle of one long chapter
Background
From Krakow to Hokkaido to Beppu, language has been the thread.
I began with language and literature in Krakow, came to Japan on a MEXT scholarship, and completed a PhD in information science at Hokkaido University, specialising in natural language processing. That unusual route taught me to move comfortably between humanities, technology, and education.
Games opened one of my first routes into Japan. For nearly three decades I have written as Mazzi for Polish readers, while my university work has taken me from language-learning systems to intercultural classrooms and faculty development. Both began with the same impulse: understand how a world works, then explain it clearly without sanding away what makes it different.
A few coordinates
The route matters because it changed what I can help other people do.
- Japan beginsI arrive on a MEXT scholarship and start learning the everyday work of living between languages.See the public record ↗
- Doctoral work makes language a systemA PhD in information science at Hokkaido University leads into Co-MIX research: language-learning systems that make context, choice, and learner experience central questions.Explore Co-MIX research ↗
- Teaching becomes the focusInvited workshops on teaching in English and intercultural communication turn research questions into live classroom work.See teaching in practice ↗
- Evidence from the classroomA 15-week study makes intercultural learning visible through students’ reflection and practice.Read the study ↗
- APU, BeppuAt APU, I bring teaching, research, and public communication into the same room.Read the APU profile ↗
How I work
I work where language, culture, and learning meet.
I am an Assistant Professor at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University (APU) in Japan. My work focuses on intercultural communication, global learning, faculty development, and teaching in multilingual higher education. I design courses and professional-development programmes that help educators and students interpret difference, participate more fully, and turn reflection into practical action.
My academic path connects language and literature, Japanese studies, information science, and natural language processing. Before joining APU, I worked and taught at Hokkaido University, developing courses and faculty-development activities around English-medium instruction, intercultural communication, curriculum design, and the changing role of generative AI in higher education.
Alongside university work, I write as Mazzi about Japan, video games, media culture, and everyday life. That public writing brings cultural interpretation and accessible explanation to a wider audience, connecting my academic interests with journalism, games, and contemporary Japanese culture.
My academic home now
At APU, global learning is not an abstract idea. It is the room I walk into every day.
Beppu is where my work in intercultural education, faculty development, and public communication now comes together.
Research
Research on how people learn, communicate, and make meaning across languages, cultures, and technologies.
My research connects intercultural communication, higher education, language learning, educational technology, and learner experience. Across these projects, I ask how classroom practices and digital tools can help people interpret difference, participate more confidently, and develop the skills needed in globally connected environments.
Code-switching for vocabulary acquisition
The CO-MIX research line explores how English and Japanese can be combined in computer-assisted language learning to support vocabulary development in context.
Teaching, technology, and learner participation
Ongoing work brings together EMI, student choice of language, faculty development, digital media, and evidence from classroom experience.
研究
人は、言語、文化、テクノロジーを越えて、どのように学び、対話し、意味をつくるのか。
私の研究は、異文化コミュニケーション、高等教育、言語学習、教育テクノロジー、学習者経験をつないでいます。授業の実践やデジタルツールが、人々の違いの解釈、自信をもった参加、そしてグローバルにつながる環境で必要となる力の獲得を、どのように支えられるかを考えています。
授業活動を通じて育てる異文化コンピテンス
構造化された活動と振り返りが、日本の高等教育における学生の異文化コンピテンスをどのように育てるかを研究しています。
語彙習得のためのコードスイッチング
CO-MIX研究では、英語と日本語をコンピュータ支援言語学習の中で組み合わせ、文脈のある語彙学習を支える方法を探っています。
教育、テクノロジー、学習への参加
EMI、学生の言語選択、ファカルティ・ディベロップメント、デジタルメディア、授業で得られる根拠を結びつける継続的な研究です。
Badania
Badam, jak ludzie uczą się, komunikują i budują znaczenie ponad językami, kulturami i technologiami.
Moje badania łączą komunikację międzykulturową, szkolnictwo wyższe, naukę języków, technologie edukacyjne i doświadczenie uczących się. Pytam w nich, jak praktyki klasowe i narzędzia cyfrowe mogą pomagać odczytywać różnice, pełniej uczestniczyć oraz rozwijać kompetencje potrzebne w połączonym świecie.
Rozwijanie kompetencji międzykulturowych przez aktywności klasowe
Badanie tego, jak uporządkowane aktywności i refleksja mogą rozwijać kompetencje międzykulturowe studentów japońskiego szkolnictwa wyższego.
Code-switching w nauce słownictwa
Linia badawcza CO-MIX analizuje, jak łączenie angielskiego i japońskiego w komputerowo wspomaganej nauce języka może wspierać naukę słownictwa w kontekście.
Nauczanie, technologia i uczestnictwo uczących się
Bieżąca praca łączy EMI, wybór języka przez studentów, rozwój dydaktyczny kadry, media cyfrowe i dowody płynące z doświadczeń klasowych.
Selected Practice
What this work looks like when it reaches a classroom.
Pre-FD for future university educators
At APU, graduate students move from subject expertise to a one-page class outline and an activity they can actually facilitate, test with peers, and revise.
Intercultural learning in multilingual classrooms
A 15-week classroom study used critical incidents and reflection to make empathy, interpretation, and cultural self-awareness visible; the work became a peer-reviewed article in 2023.
Games and media as serious cultural material
In Video Games in Society, students wrote real reviews and pitched game concepts. Selected work reached PSX Extreme, and the course received a 4.58/5 student-survey score.
Responsible AI for teaching design
From Hokkaido University workshops to a 2024 invited lecture at Kitami Institute of Technology, I frame AI as a tool for design and inquiry that still requires verification and academic judgment.
Workshop Offer
Commissionable sessions for faculty, graduate students, and teaching teams.
Design Principle
People should leave with something they can use on Monday.
I keep the theory concise, then give people time to work on a real class, difficult conversation, or programme decision. Templates, peer feedback, rehearsal, and reflection turn the session into a usable artifact and a next step that fits their institution.
Verified Experience
Four projects that show the work in action.
Faculty development across four practical problems
Recent sessions covered teaching in English, intercultural communication, syllabus design, and preparing for ChatGPT in the classroom.
Excellent Teacher selection for Video Games in Society
The course received a 4.58/5 overall student-survey score in Hokkaido University's 2023 Excellent Teacher selection.
Invited international teaching reflection
A webinar comparing teaching across Poland, Japan, and Italy, with intercultural context at the centre of the discussion.
Facilitator for interdisciplinary space-sector education
For two years, I have helped facilitate learning across intercultural communication, leadership, presentation skills, feedback, and international project collaboration for mixed student cohorts.
One Curiosity, Two Audiences
The same curiosity runs through my university work and nearly three decades of writing about games.
As Mazzi, I have reported from Japan, interviewed creators, followed game culture on the ground, and written long-form features for Polish readers. That work taught me to notice telling details, respect the audience, and make context readable without turning Japan into an exotic backdrop.
The classroom asks for the same care. Whether students are discussing culture, pitching a game, or planning an international space-sector project, my job is to help them see assumptions, find language for difficult ideas, and communicate to people who do not already think like they do.
Browse the writing portfolio
“I have spent my career learning how to enter unfamiliar worlds, read their rules, and help other people find their way in.”
- Academic identity
- Assistant Professor, higher education researcher, faculty developer.
- Public identity
- Japan-based writer on games, media, popular culture, and everyday interpretation.
- Shared axis
- Communication, learning, culture, and meaning across borders.
Position Essay
How games teach us to read cultural worlds.
A concise account of why games, Japan, public writing, and intercultural education belong in the same intellectual and professional portfolio.
Read the essayA few places to meet my work
If you want evidence, I would begin with these five moments.
01 · Global Learning in Japan · APU · 2025
Facilitating global student voices
As an APU academic, I led an international student panel and the APU Student Podcast, helping students share honest, practical perspectives on choosing a university and studying in Japan.
Open the APU feature02 · Official APU profile · 2025
Research Office Newsletter
An official profile of my academic path, research agenda, faculty development work, and public communication.
Read the newsletter
03 · Ritsumeikan University · 2026
Space Management Program
A collaborative interdisciplinary education project connecting space-sector knowledge with management, social science, innovation, and human-resource development.
Open the programme story04 · Interview · Torii · 2025
Japan, education, and games journalism
A long-form conversation about intercultural communication, teaching in Japan, public writing, games, and life between cultures.
Read the interview05 · Podcast · Moshi Moshi · 2026
Japan without the fairy tale
A long conversation about scholarship, academic life, AI and language learning, moving from Hokkaido to Kyushu, and explaining Japan without turning it into a fantasy.
Listen to the podcastSwipe or choose a channel
仕事に出会えるいくつかの場所
実績をたどるなら、まずはこの5つの場面から。
01 · Global Learning in Japan・APU・2025
学生のグローバルな声を引き出す
APUの教員として国際学生パネルとAPU Student Podcastを担当し、大学選びと日本での学びについて、学生自身の率直で実践的な視点を発信する場をつくりました。
APUの特集を開く02 · APU公式プロフィール・2025
Research Office Newsletter
研究の歩み、研究テーマ、ファカルティ・ディベロップメント、パブリック・コミュニケーションを紹介する公式プロフィールです。
ニュースレターを読む04 · インタビュー・Torii・2025
日本、教育、ゲーム・ジャーナリズム
異文化コミュニケーション、日本での教育、執筆、ゲーム、文化のあいだで生きることについてのロングインタビューです。
インタビューを読む05 · ポッドキャスト・Moshi Moshi・2026
おとぎ話にしない日本
奨学金、大学での生活、AIと言語学習、北海道から九州への移動、そして日本をファンタジーにせず伝えることについて語りました。
ポッドキャストを聴くスワイプまたはチャンネルを選択
Kilka miejsc, w których spotkasz moją pracę
Jeśli szukasz dowodów, zacząłbym od tych pięciu momentów.
01 · Global Learning in Japan · APU · 2025
Facylitacja głosów międzynarodowych studentów
Jako pracownik akademicki APU poprowadziłem panel i APU Student Podcast, pomagając studentom dzielić się szczerym, praktycznym doświadczeniem wyboru uczelni i studiowania w Japonii.
Otwórz materiał APU02 · Oficjalny profil APU · 2025
Research Office Newsletter
Oficjalny profil mojej drogi akademickiej, agendy badawczej, pracy nad rozwojem dydaktycznym kadry i komunikacji publicznej.
Przeczytaj newsletter03 · Ritsumeikan University · 2026
Space Management Program
Wspólny interdyscyplinarny projekt edukacyjny łączący wiedzę o sektorze kosmicznym z zarządzaniem, naukami społecznymi, innowacją i rozwojem kapitału ludzkiego.
Otwórz opis programu04 · Wywiad · Torii · 2025
Japonia, edukacja i prasa growa
Rozmowa o komunikacji międzykulturowej, nauczaniu w Japonii, publicystyce, grach i życiu pomiędzy kulturami.
Przeczytaj wywiad05 · Podcast · Moshi Moshi · 2026
Japonia bez baśniowej otoczki
Długa rozmowa o stypendium, życiu akademickim, AI i nauce języka, przeprowadzce z Hokkaido na Kiusiu oraz opowiadaniu o Japonii bez zamieniania jej w fantazję.
Posłuchaj podcastuPrzesuń lub wybierz kanał
Contact
Let’s build a workshop, course, or collaboration around a real problem.
To
Michal Maciej Mazur
Beppu, Ōita, Japan
I am especially interested in work with centers for teaching and learning, international programmes, graduate schools, and academic teams developing multilingual or intercultural learning.
For teaching, research, editorial, and public conversations, you can write in English, Polish, or Japanese.
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