She was born and raised in Japan and graduated from International Christian University where she studied teaching Japanese as a foreign language. In her third year of university she joined the Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers and spent two years in Tonga teaching Japanese. It was that experience that inspired her future career in academics. After returning from Tonga, she taught Japanese at a language school in Japan and then decided to go to graduate school. She attended Oxford University where she earned her M.Phil. and D.Phil. in General