Michael Hacker

Michael Hacker is a United States Air Force veteran, Military Intelligence professional, interrogator, translator/linguist/polyglot, cybersecurity professional, (former) English professor, guitarist/songwriter, student of Japanese martial arts, and native Iowan.

Having spent the bulk of his life nerding out over languages, Michael has studied French, Russian, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, German, and a smattering of other languages. He’s still trying to recover from the Tōhoku accent that he acquired while living in Aomori Prefecture.

Michael spent a decade—spanning two Emperors, three U. S. Presidents, and countless hairstyles—in Japan, training in martial arts, studying the Japanese language and culture, and earning advanced black belts in tonkotsu ramen.


In addition to being an Honors Alumnus of the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center, Michael also holds a Master of Arts degree in Linguistics from Arizona State University. He has worked as a professional linguist, translator, and interpreter for various companies and agencies of the U. S. government and is now somewhat-retired from Arizona State University.


Michael is an instructor at the Renshinkan in Tempe, Arizona.

He also writes on occasion.