Fusako was born to Takeo and Haru (Notani) Kudo, January 10, 1932, the eldest of three children. Her younger brother died in 1964. The other brother, who has visited Brooks-Howell Home and will be remembered by many of its residents, is married and has one daughter and a grandson. Although born in Tokyo, Fusako considers the ancient castle town of Hirosaki her hometown.
Her father was a professional
soldier and the family moved around a lot in her early years.
Finally, to escape the air raids, her mother took the children
and they settled in the ancestral home. Hirosaki was a center of
Methodist evangelism from the beginnings of Methodism in Japan,
and it became the site of a Methodist school for boys and a
Methodist secondary school and college for girls. Fusako came
under Methodist influence at an early age, graduating from its
junior and senior high then from junior college in 1953. She
taught English in the Hirosaki public junior high schools until
1963.She was married to John Krummel on January 26, 1964. November 9, 1965 they became the parents of a son, John Wesley Megumu. He is now teaching philosophy in New York. Fusako received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature from Meiji Gakuin University in 1976 and a Master of Arts degree in English Literature from Aoyama Gakuin University in 1981. She has completed all the required class work for the doctorate. She was a part-time teacher of English in the junior high school, and from 1981 to 1991, the university of Aoyama Gakuin. From 1985 she was Adjunct Professor and from 1986 Professor of English Literature at Keisen Women’s Junior College, a Christian school founded to incorporate Christianity, an international spirit and a concern for nature. She was also actively involved in its program of Christian witness through chapel, retreats, counseling, and other activities. She was head of the campus ministry from 1996 to 1998. She published a number of critical studies of English 19th and 20th century women authors, giving special attention to the Christian and Biblical themes found in their work. Her master’s thesis was on George Eliot. Other studies have focused on Barbara Pym, Anna Jameson, Anita Brookner, Margaret Drabble, and the American Flannery O’Conner.