Her research interests are in the area of labour economics and include race and gender in the labor market, elderly employment, education economics, and intergenerational equity. Her research papers have been published in such academic journals as Industrial and Labor Relations Review, Labour Economics, Quantitative Economics and Research in Labor Economics. She received her BA in economics from the University of Tokyo and her PhD in economics from Northwestern University. She is a Research Fellow of the IZA Institute of Labor Economics, and an Associate Member of the Science Council of Japan.