For Reina Saiki, 28, the world is her oyster.

The Ivy leaguer who studied counterterrorism and Arabic at Brown and Harvard universities had been given chances to work for the CIA and FBI. With interning experience at the Clinton Foundation and Interpol, she could have taken any job to fulfill her goal of making the world a better place.

But Saiki chose something unfathomable for someone of her background: The U.S.-born and-bred Saiki became a comedian in Japan, where her parents are from.