I was born in Tokyo (Japan) and moved to Europe in 1980 to study recorder making.  Later in Basel, as a recorder student of Michel Piguet, I had the opportunity of playing his original Stanesby Jr. alto. I also had the chance to copy it, and that led me to copying many other original recorders since then. I've played, studied and measured instruments in various musical instrument collections throughout the world, such as the Frans Bruggen (private collection, Amsterdam), Moeck (private collection, Celle), Dayton Miller Flute Collection/Library of Congress (Washington D.C.), Victoria & Albert Museum (London), Palais Lascaris (Nice), Museo Nazionale degli Strumenti Musicali (Rome), Museo Nazionale di Santa Cecilia (Rome), University of Edinburgh Musical Instrument Museum etc.

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For me it is important to copy the original instrument as precisely as possible, so that I keep the concept of the original. Next to that I find it important to create an instrument which will fit the style of the player it belongs to. Therefore I would like to have the cooperation of the player to make the recorder as personal as possible.

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Between 2011 and 2014, I measured, photographed and made drawings of 11 Italian Baroque recorders, all commissioned by Inês d'Avena as part of her PhD research at Leiden University. The drawings and measurements produced for her thesis can be downloaded here.

I currently work between Amsterdam and Tokyo, and when in Europe I am a member of Aventure, ensemble for medieval music. In 2015/2016 I was involved in an interdisciplinary research project Filling the gap. The reconstruction of a mid-15thcentury recorder consort, that Aventure carried out. More here.