College of Arts and Humanities

Hanayo Oya

Assistant Professor

Media, Communications and Journalism | 559.278.0059 | Office: Speech Arts (SA) Building 140 I

oya@csufresno.edu

Education

  • University of North Dakota - Ph.D. in Communication (In progress)
  • Waseda University - M.A. in Journalism (2012)
  • Meiji Gakuin University - B.A. in English Literature (2009, Summa Cum Laude)

Courses Taught

  • MCJ 121 Video News Production 
  • MCJ 164 Applied Media Research
  • MCJ 129 Global Campus Studio
  • MCJ 125 Radio News & Podcasting
  • MCJ 112 Audio Production

Hanayo Oya (she/her/hers) is a multi-award-winning journalist, Emmy-nominated documentary director and producer, author, columnist, scholar, and educator originally from Japan. In Fall 2023, she joined the Department of Media, Communications, and Journalism in the College of Arts and Humanities at California State University, Fresno. She also serves as an Adjunct Researcher at the Institute for the Next Generation of Journalism and Media at Waseda University in Japan and as a Research Fellow at the International Peace Research Institute at Meiji Gakuin University.

Before joining Fresno State, Oya was an Assistant Professor of Broadcast and Digital Journalism at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. As a Fulbright scholar, she conducted research at the Investigative Reporting Program at the University of California, Berkeley. Her professional experience also includes working as a television reporter and director in Okinawa, where she produced several award-winning documentary programs.

Her recent work includes the Netflix documentary series Turning Point: The Bomb and the Cold War (nine episodes, 2024), for which she served as Co-Producer. The series was nominated for a News & Documentary Emmy® Award in 2025. She has also produced and directed multiple documentary films, including the critically acclaimed Boy Soldiers: The Secret War in Okinawa (2017).

Oya has received numerous awards and honors, including the Kinema Junpo Award for Best Documentary Film, one of Japan’s most prestigious film honors, and Fresno State’s Provost’s Award for Promising New Faculty in 2024. Her work has also been featured at major international film festivals, including the Busan International Film Festival, the largest film festival in Asia.

She has secured significant external funding to support journalism education, international collaboration, and emerging media innovation. Her grants include the California Learning Lab FAST-AI grant, valued at $142,000, and two competitive U.S. State Department grants totaling $120,000 to support global reporting education projects and U.S.-Japan international journalism network initiatives. Her international initiatives connected to the UNESCO World Press Freedom Day Academic Conference were also supported by Fresno State’s President’s Circle fund, enabling students to present their work at overseas conferences, including in Chile in 2024.

Committed to inspiring students through the power of storytelling, Oya brings her professional experience and passion for journalism into the classroom. She believes in learning alongside her students and fostering an environment where creativity, diversity, inclusion, and journalistic integrity can thrive.

Outside of her professional work, Oya enjoys traveling, practicing kendo, a Japanese martial art, and playing the sanshin, a traditional Okinawan musical instrument.
Journalism (social justice, accountability, public good, investigative reporting), visual storytelling & documentary directing and producing, multi-media reporting, and media research.

SELECTED AWARDS & HONORS

  • Provost’s Award 2024 Promising New Faculty Award (Fresno State, 2024)
  • Fulbright Alumni Engagement Innovation Fund (The U.S. Department of State, 2022)
  • Fulbright Alumni Awards for U.S. Embassy recognition (The U.S. Embassy Tokyo, 2022)
  • Study Abroad Scholarship (Yoshida Scholarship Foundation, 2022)
  • The Program of Overseas Study for Upcoming Artists Fellowship (The Agency for Cultural Affairs, the Government of Japan, 2020)
  • Japan-US Exchange Friendship Program in the Arts Fellowship 
    (Japan-US Friendship Commission, 2020)
  • Mika Yamamoto Memorial Honorable Award for International Journalist (Mika Yamamoto Memorial Foundation, 2020)
  • Award for Best Documentary Film (The Kinema Junpo Award for Best Film of the Year, 2019)
  • Award for Best Director (The Japan Film Association, 2019)
  • Fulbright Scholarship (The U.S. Department of States, the Government of Japan, 2018)
  • Best Culture and Art Award for Film Director (The Fumiko Yamaji Foundation, 2018)
  • Best of Documentary Film of the Year (The Japan Film Pen Club, 2018)
  • Best Prize of Progress Award (TV Asahi, 2017)
  • Award for Best TV Documentary of the Year (Ryukyu Asahi Broadcasting, 2017)
  • Excellence Award for Reporting (The TV Directors’ Short Reporting Competition in Kyushu, 2015)
  • Award for Photography (The Photographic Society of Japan, 2013)
  • Scholarship for Graduate Students with Excellent Achievements (Japan Student Services Organization, the Government of Japan, 2012)
  • Summa Cum Laude at the Faculty of Letters, Meiji Gakuin University (2009)


SELECTED SIGNIFICANT FUNDED PROJECTS & GRANTS

  • Principal Investigator
    • Title: International and Inter-University Collaboration Project: Empowering Aspiring Global Journalists Through UNESCO Press Freedom Day Conference
    • Funding body: Fresno State President Circle
    • Value: $14k
    • Duration: 2024
  • Co-Principal Investigator
    • Title: Developing the Japan-U.S. Journalist Network
    • Funding body: The U.S. Department of State
    • Value: $80k
    • Duration: 2022 - 2025
  • Principal Investigator
    • Title: Delivering Japan Global Citizenship and Intercultural Communication Pilot Project
    • Funding body: Syracuse University (Hendricks Chapel, S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Office of Diversity and Inclusion)
    • Value: $13k
    • Year: 2023
  • Principal Investigator
    • Title: Developing a global reporting education program for aspiring international journalists
    • Funding body: The U.S. Embassy in Tokyo
    • Value: $40k
    • Duration: 2022 - 2024
  • Principal Investigator
    • Title: Researching the U.S. Status of Forces Agreement and its effects on the criminal jurisdiction of host countries
    • Funding body: The Program of Overseas Study for Upcoming Artists Fellowship (The Agency for Cultural Affairs, the Government of Japan)
    • Value: $40k
    • Duration: 2020 - 2021


BOOKS

  • Oya, H., & Kanehira, S. (2024). Thinking and Acting Rationally in the Age of Pre-War. 2nd ed. (First edition published in November 2023). Kamogawa Shuppan.
  • Oya, H. (2020). Okinawa Wartime Malaria: The Enforced Relocation and Death of 3,600 Civilians (Award-winning). Akebi Shobo.
  • Oya, H. with Hanada, T. & Watanabe, M. (2017). Developing Investigative Journalism in Japan. Sairyusha.


SELECTED DOCUMENTARIES

  • Oya, H. (Co-Producer). (2024). Turning Point: The Bomb And The Cold War. [Documentary series, 9 episodes, 1 season] Netflix.
  • Oya, H. (Director, Cameraperson, Editor). (2019). The U.S. Military Issue in Ireland. [Short film]. Yahoo! Japan News Special Feature Story.
  • Oya, H. (Director). (2018). Boy Soldiers: The Secret War in Okinawa [Film]. The Secret War in Okinawa Production Committee. (Multi-award-winning)
  • Oya, H. (Director, Cameraperson, Editor). (2018). North Korean Refugees on Yeonpyeong Island. [Short Film]. Yahoo! Japan News Special Feature Story.
  • Oya, H. (Director, Cameraperson, Editor). (2018). Japanese Self-Defense Forces Deployment on Yonaguni Island, Okinawa. [Short Film]. Yahoo! Japan News Special Feature Story.
  • Oya, H. (Director, Cameraperson, Editor, Narrator). (2017). The Post-9/11 Veterans and Their Endless War with PTSD. [Short film]. Yahoo! Japan News Special Feature Story
  • Oya, H. (Director, Reporter). (2016). I Was the Terrorist: The U.S. Veterans Stood up to Stop the New U.S. Military Base Construction in Okinawa. [TV program]. Ryukyu Asahi Broadcasting. (Rerun 2017 nationwide in Japan) (Multi-award-winning)
  • Oya, H. (Director, Reporter, Narrator). (2016). At the End of the Road: Dialogues with a Former Japanese Soldier. [TV program]. Ryukyu Asahi Broadcasting. (Multi-award-winning)
  • Oya, H. (Director, Cameraperson, Narrator, Editor). (2012). The Southernmost Coral Reef. [Film]. Graduate School of Journalism, Waseda University.