Pictures of me

I was born in Wuppertal, Germany (in the year of Monkey) and grew up in Tokyo. In earlier part of my childhood, I lived in Nishinomiya in Western part of Japan, but my home town no longer exists as I knew it, due to the earthquake in January 1995. For the past 13 years, I lived in the U.S. California is now my second home. After that (2001-2003) I got an opportunity to live where my family lived at the time I was born, Düsseldorf, Germany, to do the things I like to do: teaching and doing research in Linguistics. Currently I live in Berlin and am part of the  project at ZAS.

One thing that keeps me going is running (long distance). My favorite race is the Boston Marathon, where I ran (and completed!) 11 times so far. My 12th is coming up in a few weeks (April 21). The Jungfrau Marathon in Switzerland is also great. You get to run through beautiful scenery you wouldn't encounter unless you go by foot. I've also run in the New York City Marathon, Berlin Marahon, and California International Marathon.

Sports has always been significant part of my life. I learned to ski and to swim when I was 5. Swimming gave me the first opportunity to teach something I liked and was good at, when was 14. At 18, I joined the Happo Ski School (here's a link to Happo Ski Resort, my home base) and gave lessons. My love for teaching never faded. I had the passion for skiing downhills and bumps at high speed and was never afraid of falling, because I knew I wouldn't. And that's my attitude toward new challenges. 

I get the high spirit from my mother, who has run the Boston Marathon 15 times so far and done her 10th 100km race in Hokkaido (Japan) this year. She has completed each one of them in time. She's smart, funny, tidy, focused, reliable, and a person with compassion and common sense. And, as far as everyone in my family's concerned, she's the world's best chef. My mother is extraordinary inside-out! 

Periodically updated ...