Grant High School’s Japanese and Inquiry teachers, Kayoko Akin and Suzanna Kassouf, show up to work every day ready to support their students, but who supports them when they return home?
Sunday Night in Osaka: Kayoko Akin and Alan Akin’s story.
In the summer of 1999, Kayoko Akin arrived at a party fashionably late and unknowingly sat down beside the man who would become her husband: Alan Akin. Alan was an American who had just arrived in Japan to teach English through the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) program.
The two began to chat, and at the end of the night Kayoko gave Alan her phone number in hopes of connecting him with the other English speaking JETs she knew.
A week later he called her not to talk about JETs, but to ask her out. As they had only met once, Kayoko wasn’t yet interested in dating, so she invited him to Osaka’s Yodogawa Fireworks Festival with a group of her friends instead. There, Kayoko recalls thinking, “Alan is a very nice person, and I really wanted to get to know him more.”
The two continued to meet and spend time together every week that summer, getting to know each other better as they wandered around the city. Soon after they started formally dating.
Nearly a year later, in May of 2000, Alan started thinking about proposing. However, the timing never felt right until a late-night train ride the two spent together after an outing with friends. Alan had been talking about their future together, and in reference to proposing, Kayoko replied, “Well I already know what I’m going to say.”
Alan says, “She already knew the answer … That’s what made me (propose) right then and there. And she said yes!” Nine months later, Kayoko and Alan got married at a shrine in Kyoto.
The Akins lived in Japan for two more years before moving to San Antonio, Texas. Adjusting to life in the United States was difficult for Kayoko, but she says, “(Alan) speaks Japanese, so that really made me feel safe and comfortable.” Moreover, Alan says their shared experience living in Japan helped him understand the homesickness and sadness Kayoko felt.
Through ups and downs and multiple cross-country moves — the most recent to Portland, Oregon so Kayoko could become one of Grant’s Japanese teachers — the pair’s mutual understanding of each other has kept their marriage strong. Twenty-two years after they tied the knot, Alan still describes their life as “a non-stop adventure.”
Lessons on Love: Suzanna Kassouf and Michael Yun’s story.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Michael Yun and his friend were scrolling through a dating app when they came across Suzanna Kassouf’s picture. Michael’s friend knew Kassouf and told him, “She’s really great! You should go out with her.”
Suzanna says that shortly after, “We had a really sweet first date at his house, which is now our house, where I came over with my guitar. We just played music together and talked about some deep stuff and ate some really good snacks.”
Suzanna and Michael quickly connected over their shared biracial identities — Suzanna being Arab and white and Michael being Chinese and white. Never fully fitting into Arabic, Chinese or white spaces, they under- stood their constant struggle to find a place to belong.
The two continued meeting at each other’s homes, sometimes going to the Oregon Coast to surf after Michael bought Suzanna a surfboard and wetsuit.
However, Suzana remembers, “After about five months together, we actually almost broke up because we had different boundaries around COVID-19 … I was wanting more freedom and he was wanting more safety.”
After struggling with this for months, they eventually decided to attend couples therapy. Suzanna says, “We go every two weeks now and (our therapist) helps us have a healthy, kind, loving relationship and … helps us communicate across our differences.”
For Suzanna, the pair’s shared values contribute to their ongoing love. “Before we met, I had written down a list of things I really wanted in a partner,” she says. “I found that list recently and … all those things I really found in Michael.”
Suzanna and Michael have recently gotten engaged after dating for two years. When looking towards their future, they strive to continue supporting each other and growing together, hopefully building a family along the way. Because their children will be multiracial, Suzanna says, “(Creating a) space where we belong together and we belong in our home is really special and important for us.”
