Ian Ruxton

Hello! I am an academic and English teacher educated in the United Kingdom. I have lived continuously in Japan since 1 April 1988 (the start of the school year in Japan). My first six years were in the Kansai region. I began working in Sumoto city on Awaji island - the place where the England football (soccer) team trained for the 2002 World Cup - as an Assistant English Teacher (AET) in junior high schools. I then moved to Kobe city where I taught evening classes in companies, colleges, an American state college's branch campus, the Kobe YMCA and part-time at a private Japanese university in Kyoto. In 1994 I obtained a full-time post as lecturer (assistant professor) at a Japanese national university specialising in engineering and technology in Tobata ward, Kitakyushu city and remained there teaching English and researching a distinguished British scholar-diplomat who served in Japan for about 25 years named Sir Ernest Satow (1843-1929). I have produced several books based on Satow's diaries and letters. I retired aged 63 and became a professor emeritus. I am now 69 years old in October 2026. My wife is Japanese and we have a cat. My hobby is watching rugby and sometimes also playing, since senior rugby is very popular in Japan.