Susan Orpett Long specializes in anthropology and East Asian Studies. She did her undergraduate work at the University of Michigan and received her MA and PhD in anthropology at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She became interested in Japan when she was sent there as an AFS exchange student in high school, knowing little more than how to count to ten and say “sayonara.” The intensive experience of a year in such a historically rich culture stimulated her interest in anthropology and encouraged her to continue her study of Japanese language and society.