Profile: Revisited

Well, here it is. I attempted to have a theme and I think it's apparent throughout but not totally punch-you-in-the-face obvious, but I like how it turned out with what I had.
Learning for the fun of it: Akiko Kunii
By Marni Newell
Between white Grecian statues and reprinted art pieces, Akiko Kunii bustles in near the end of the alter-ego themed party for the 2009 graduating class of Kalamazoo College. She grabs a plate of hummus and vegetables in between posing for pictures with Vanna White, what looks like a female mob boss, and an 80’s prom queen, chatting with a man in a fedora by the table of food.
Later, the 80’s prom queen and mob boss admit they don’t know much about Kunii. Senior Julia Anderle De Sylor, the Vanna White of the party, knows her from a common extracurricular activity, the Business Guild, but says she still doesn’t know her well.
“I feel like I’d have to know her for years to really understand her,” Anderle De Sylor says. She contributes this to the culture difference: Kunii is from Japan. “Americans are more direct,” she says.
Kunii, a tall, slim, thirty-something Japanese woman is a familiar face on Kalamazoo College’s campus, noticed for her attendance at most campus-sponsored events. With a backpack perpetually slung over her shoulder and sporting sensible running shoes, Kunii finds time to attend meetings, lectures, and classes both as a student and a professor. As a teaching fellow for the Japanese department, Kunii teaches Japanese 203, a job she’s wanted since she was a teenager, and is enrolled in Anthropology, Teaching Foreign Language, and Mind Body.
When asked about spare time, Kunii draws a blank. “When do I have spare time?” she muses. “Sleeping?” She asks for a definition of ‘spare time’ and reconsiders. “You can see me in the library or office, any other place I’m just running.” She pauses, rethinking her interests. “Yeah, running.”
Through a program in Japan, Kunii was placed to teach at Kalamazoo College, a college she was excited to be a part of because of its prestige. Other members of the program were placed throughout the Midwest. Although life as an international student at Kalamazoo is hard enough—not to mention being a professor as well-- Kunii’s interests in learning outweigh the side affects: her full schedule. But, Kunni says it’s a “good busy…because I can see so many things and participate, but difficult because I have to choose.”
Because of the tight schedule, Kunii says she isn’t a member of many clubs—if you don’t count the Business Guild, Eyes for Sight, and dance lessons.
Anderle De Sylor, a fellow Business Guild member, sees her contributing a lot to the group when she is able to show up for meetings. “She sometimes has class conflicts,” Anderle De Sylor says. But this doesn’t stop her from trying. Even though she had a lab during the Guild’s international business conference, Anderle De Sylor says she “dashed in” as soon as she could.
Kunii knows about moving fast. During the winter, she broke her arm while jogging outside. “I hit the ground and it was terrible,” she says. After meeting many doctors at Bronson hospital and waiting longer than she’d like for an x-ray (“I’m always hungry so I didn’t like waiting to take x-ray” she says) Kunii was left with a broken arm, a card, and a bag of animal crackers from her Japanese class, her favorite. Kunii cites this as one of her favorite aspects of Kalamazoo College. “I’m so happy and lucky to have nice students” Kunii says.
The broken arm has slowed Kunii down, but not much. She may not be able to have her fifteen minute runs every day, but she can still dash from classes to meetings to events.
That’s another down side of being busy for Kunii, when you’re busy “You only say ‘Hi, how are you doing?’” without stopping for an actual conversation. What’s worse, when she would run, she would only be able to shout a salutation on her way by. “In Japan we,” Kunii pauses and bows and proceeds to say she feels “very rude” when she can’t bow.
That’s one of the first things Anderle De Sylor noted about Kunii. “Whenever she sees me she asks how I’m doing,” she says. But, more than that, she asks for specific updates in Anderle De Sylor’s life that she has spoken with her about. “Not many people do that,” she says. “You know—follow up.”
Manners are important to Kunii, who thinks the biggest difference between American and Japanese cultures is the lack of respect for elders, saying “In America, equality is more important than politeness.”
Kunii’s politeness is far-reaching, Senior Amel Omari met Kunii once at a women’s awareness group meeting. “I had to explain to her what ‘bitch’ meant,” Omari said, smiling. “Now she says ‘Hi’ when she sees me.”
One of Kunii’s obstacles in America has been to overcome the stereotype that because she’s not American, she can’t understand English. “People think because of the language we don’t understand. But I understand the concepts,” she says, drawing a fraction on a pad of paper. “You call this a fourth, right?” she asks and then points to the four. “In Japanese, we say the bottom number first.”
Although she already has received a bachelor’s degree and teaching certificate in Japan, taken classes at Northwestern University in Chicago, and teaches a class at Kalamazoo College Kunii identifies herself with the international students more than the professors. She describes having the moments when she realizes she’s Japanese. “I’m Akiko, but still I’m part of Asia, part of Japan,” she says.
Kunii’s visa runs out in June, when she’ll return to Tokyo to her family and her mom’s food, which is the first thing she’ll ask for when she’s home.