His father, Ryoichi Mikitani, was an economist who was Japan's first Fulbright Scholar to the US and taught for two years at Yale University; during that time, from 1972 to 1974, the family lived in New Haven, Connecticut.
Ayahnya, Ryoichi Mikitani, adalah seorang ekonom yang merupakan Fulbright Scholar pertama Jepang ke AS dan mengajar selama dua tahun di Universitas Yale ; selama waktu itu, 1972-1974, keluarga tinggal di New Haven, Connecticut .