This episode of Speaking Nikkei features Dr. Mika Kennedy, a professor at Kalamazoo College in western Michigan. We talk about identity can be felt individually as well as communally, how existential crises lead to great decisions, Soviet literature, how JA incarceration was shaped by ideas of Western expansion, how to navigate academia, her chapter's excellent history exhibit Exiled to Motown, and teaching during a pandemic. Also Dylan's dog makes an appearance.