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Q&A with a campus b-boy:

Akira Honjo is not just a breakdancer

by Aly Berry

What is your major?

Economics

What are you doing after graduation?

Either going to London to help set up a branch of a Japanese IT venture company, or staying in the US to start up a trading business.

How did you like Grinnell?

Of course, there is good and bad in everything, but I liked Grinnell in many ways. Mainly, I loved people I met here. They are all intelligent, bizarre and weird. Some friends and professors here deepened my knowledge and had a huge impact on how I think and act now. I liked the fact that I didn't have to take only economics-related classes. I liked how all the things were free here: movies, foods, concerts and beer. I liked how each year seniors talked about their good old days and complaining about freshman.

What are some random memories that you have of Grinnell?

1) When I was backpacking in Europe and walking on a street in southern France, I met a few Grinnellians. That's when I realized that the statement that Grinnellians are everywhere is true.

2) One cold day in winter in my first year, I opened all the windows of south campus loggia with a former vice president. Sorry.

Tell me a little bit about your dancing experience (especially breakdancing), and explain what you're doing with the stick in this photo:

Most people who know me see me as a breakdancer, but actually I was engaged with other dances as well. I was in Emanate my first two years (haha, good memory). I've been involved with Javanese dance since my first year and participated in the Dance Troupe show three times.

So why am a holding a stick in the courtyard? Well, I'm dancing a tree and being a tree. What I'm doing is Butoh, an avant-garde Japanese contemporary dance. The funny thing is I didnt know anything about it except name until I did research on it in a Modern Dance course here. After that, I took a workshop with one of the founders of Butoh in Japan and had a chance to perform with him. This court yard is memorable for me because it's where I did my first solo performance in my life. So I really appreciate the way Grinnell has influenced my life.

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