How do you integrate cultural understanding into your lectures, ensuring that students gain not only subject knowledge but also an appreciation for global perspectives, particularly in a culturally homogenous setting like Japan? This is an essential question. To help students in Japan develop global perspectives, I encourage them to question the cultural assumptions they often take for granted. For example, when teaching about Islam, I start by asking students to consider how they view religion. Most respond that they don’t hold any particular faith. However, when I ask if they have visited a temple or shrine in the past year, most say yes. I then explain that this reflects a form of faith within our culture. Many students don’t consciously identify their beliefs as ‘religious,’ but they still engage in practices like visiting holy sites for good fortune. By highlighting these cultural norms, I help students become more aware of their own perspectives on religion. Once they recognize these underlying assumptions, they are more open to understanding other belief systems, such as Islam, without viewing them through a lens of comparison or judgment. This approach turns learning into an opportunity for mutual understanding rather than a way to determine which culture is ‘better.’