In March 1997, I gave two presentations at the TESOL ’97 International Convention and Exhibition held in Orlando, Florida, USA, with travel support from the NTT Foundation, one of which was a seminar-style presentation with several research colleagues I had met through the past conferences. The first two people I met there were Prof. Ken Matsuda and Dr. Yoshimasa Tsukuma (then professors at the Faculty of Letters, Ritsumeikan University, and now professor emeritus), who were conducting cutting-edge research on computer-assisted language learning. Just as the Faculty of Economics and the Faculty of Business Administration of Ritsumeikan University were about to move from the Kinugasa Campus in Kyoto City to the Biwako-Kusatsu Campus in Kusatsu City, Shiga Prefecture in 1998, I was informed that they were looking for a faculty member who had been conducting research and practice of computer-assisted learning. Perhaps with some advice from Professor Mikihiko Sugimori (then Professor at the Faculty of Policy Science, now Professor Emeritus), with whom I had been in contact through academic activities, Prof. Ken Matsuda and Prof. Mikihiko Sugimori visited me at the Language Center of Toyohashi University of Technology and asked me to apply for the open faculty position. Having struggled alone at a national technological university, it was a good opportunity I could not have wished for, to move to one of the famous private universities in the Kansai region, where I would be treated well in a new environment. I was invited to give a lecture once in order to have my character evaluated, and then I was interviewed. As a result, I was hired as a professor by Ritsumeikan University and started a new professional career in April 1998.

1997年3月に米国フロリダ州オーランドで開催されたTESOL’97国際研究大会にNTT基金の旅費援助をもらい２つの発表をしたが、その1つは学会を通じて知り合った数人の研究仲間とのセミナー・スタイルであった。そこで初めてお会いしたのが、最先端のコンピュータ支援言語学習を研究実践していらした松田憲先生と津熊良政先生（当時の立命館大学文学部教授で現名誉教授）のお二人であった。ちょうど立命館大学の経済学部と経営学部が京都市の衣笠キャンパスから滋賀県草津市の琵琶湖草津キャンパスへ1998年度から移転するにあたり、コンピュータ支援学習の研究実践している教員を探しているとの情報を得た、かねてより学会活動を通じて交流のあった杉森幹彦先生（当時政策科学部教授、現名誉教授）からの助言もあったのか、松田憲先生と杉森幹彦先生が豊橋技術科学大学語学センターを訪問してくれ、教員公募に応募するように依頼された。国立単科大学で孤軍奮闘してきた身としては、新しい環境で待遇も良くなる関西の有名私立大学の1つへの転職は願ってもなかった機会であり、喜んで応募した。人物評価をしてもらうため、一度招待講演をさせてもらい、面談をしてもらった結果、1998年4月から経済学部教授として採用され、全く新しい職場で働くことになった。