She earned her B.A. in Social Sciences at Waseda University, Tokyo, her M. A. in Anthropology at University of Pittsburgh, and her Ph. D. in Cultural Anthropology at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. She also teaches a fellowship program, “Gender and Violence in East Asia” at the Holocaust Center at Queensborough Community College. She has been engaged in ethnographic field research in Tsushima Island, Japan, located in the interstitial zone between Korea and Japan, exploring the postcolonial processes that involve identity politics and historical interpretations. Her writings focus on the interrelationship of power, culture, and history, exemplified by her article, “Performing Alterity: Postcolonial Genesis of Borderland Identity in Japan,” and a forthcoming edited volume, “Borders Beyond States in Asia: Power, Identity, and History of Borders.