Masahiro is a visiting scholar at Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages and Linguistics at University of Cambridge and also a visiting fellow at Wolfson College, University of Cambridge. He is a professor at College of Science and Engineering at Aoyama Gakuin University in Japan.

Masahiro’s research so far has been the application of cognitive linguistics in foreign language teaching. The primary way of the application is associated with spatial concept projection, through which learners understand the target concepts in terms of the embodied cognition utilizing spatial concepts. His current research interests are focused on analyzing the spatial concept-oriented metaphor approach from the perspectives of brain neural basis to confirm whether it is a neuroscientifically proven approach to improving learners’ L2 language proficiency. His most recent book, Application of Cognitive Linguistics in Foreign Language Teaching, published by Kaitakusha Publishing, won the most distinguished award from Japan Association of College English Teachers (JACET) in 2021.

Masahiro completed his Ed.M.at Harvard University, his Ed.D. at Temple University in the USA, his first Ph.D. at the University of Auckland in New Zealand and his second Ph.D. at the University of Tokyo in Japan.