Professor Hiroe Iwamoto has been teaching Japanese at KCC for about four years. Originally from Okayama, Japan, Iwamoto came to Hawaiʻi after marrying her husband, who is a local Japanese American. Before coming to Hawaiʻi, Iwamoto had been teaching at the college level in Japan for about 15 years, and six years in Pennsylvania. She prefers teaching at colleges when there is an opportunity, which led to her decision to teach at KCC.

“I’m really enjoying teaching Japanese,” Iwamoto said. “I hope I can inspire more students and I want to tell them that learning Japanese is fun.”

Iwamoto said that she enjoys how the students and colleagues on campus are friendly and easy to be around. She also enjoys the KCC campus; although the campus has old buildings, she says that the nature that is seen throughout the campus is what fits her image of how she views Hawaiʻi.