Kento was born in Japan and grew up in Honolulu, Hawai'i. He graduated from Yale in 2020 with a B.A. in Linguistics and East Asian Studies and studied remotely at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center from 2020-2021. He wrote his Linguistics senior essay on the discourse functions and syntax of vocatives, elements which refer to and attract the attention of the addressee, in Fuyang Wu Chinese spoken near Hangzhou, China. His East Asian Studies senior essay examined ways in which the “tapioca boom” in Japan reflected and produced multilayered associations of tapioca, its consumers, and Taiwan with femininity, as well as the lingering impact of colonialism on transnational cultural flows between Japan and Taiwan. Outside of the classroom, Kento was active in the Japanese American Students Union, Chinese American Students Association, and Yale Undergraduate Science Olympiad. In his free time, he enjoys gardening and trying new foods. He is excited to explore the food scene and grateful for the opportunity to engage with students and local communities in Hong Kong for the next two years.
