Alana Alissa Yoshiko Anderson was born and raised in Wahiawa, Hawaii and left the islands behind for a BA from Brandeis University in Waltham, MA with a double major in Politics and English & American Literature and minor in Asian Studies. Upon graduation in 1999, Alana participated in the Japan Exchange Teaching (JET) Program and taught English language to a small town, Hirukawa-mura in Gifu-ken to preschool, elementary, and junior high school students.

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