I was born in Nagoya, Japan and have loved music and piano from a very young age. I still remember the occasion when my first-grade teacher asked the class to write what we wanted to become as adults. I wrote “a piano teacher.” I am still on that course!
 
While at the Kikusato High School’s music course in Nagoya, I won third prize in an important Student Competition. I continued my study at the Toho Gakuen School of Music in Tokyo, studying with Mrs. Sadako Matsuoka. I won prizes in several national competitions while at the Toho School. One of these prizes, the Young Artist Award, gave me the opportunity to play a concerto with the Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra. This led to many concerto performances with them and playing of many 20thcentury works as a part of the orchestra. I came to the U.S. to study at Indiana University with György Sebok. I love chamber music and it was wonderful to play with many talented students from the studios of Josef Gingold, Abraham Skernick, Janos Starker, and Paul Matthen. I participated in a few major international competitions - Queen Elizabeth, Chopin, Sydney, and Liszt. I did quite well in early rounds, but discovered that physical strength was necessary to survive these competitions.
 
As I was working toward my Artist Diploma in piano, I met someone special, who I married after graduation. This made me decide to earn a Master of Music Degree as well. I left IU after 5 years of studying there and moved to Massachusetts in 1987. I met Victor Rosenbaum at the Longy School of Music and started studying with him. Later I joined the faculty at the Longy School, where I taught until 2013. I was the founding member of the Longy Faculty Union and served as the treasurer. I met the violin master, Roman Totenberg, and started working with him, first playing for his students, then playing with him. I performed both in solo and chamber music recitals in the U.S., Japan, and Europe. I taught over 19 years at the Japanese Language School of Greater Boston as a kindergarten teacher, teaching Japanese culture and language. I have also been teaching at Middlesex School in Concord, MA, for more than 20 years. I am a co-founder of Cambridge Music Consortium in Cambridge, MA, where I maintain a busy studio. 
 
I was introduced to NEPTA by Tanya Shrago, with whom I have been playing four-hands since 2006. I attended one of the Teachers’ Exchanges playing the works by Valery Gavrilin with her. I finally joined NEPTA in 2011. I became a member of the board of directors in 2018 and then the Treasurer in 2019. Currently I am in my second term as treasurer. My duties include paying bills, recording transactions, filing the tax returns and government reports, among other things. I am glad that my experience as a union treasurer became useful for NEPTA.