I was raised in a small neighborhood in the suburbs of Japan. It was very safe. I remember exploring my neighborhood all by myself before age 3. 

As a child, I was very active, curious and shy, and spent a lot of time being outside playing with my siblings and friends. One of my mom’s sayings was “a Kid’s Job is to play.” I took my “job” quite seriously and worked very hard. Now, I very much appreciate the way I was raised. 

In school, I liked FUN things but didn’t care to study much, especially the classes that required me to sit down quietly—it just wasn’t my thing. My favorite subjects were art, physical education, music, and home economics, which I did very well. 

At home, I wasn't given many toys and I didn't have easy access to trendy items—or things that were considered wasteful by my parents. The root of my awareness for sustainability was developed at this young age. My parents’ restrictions made me a creative person as I had to entertain myself in my own way. 

As a teen, having a unique style was a big deal for me because I wanted to express myself, but I was also a shy person. What I wore spoke out without words, it was my voice. Clothing was one of my communication tools used to connect with others. The schools I grew up in had many restrictions, but I liked to play hard within the given limits. My parents rolled their eyes at me many times, yet I wasn’t breaking any rules.

In college, I simply wanted to learn how to make clothes that I liked. I had no talent in drawing, my professor had no positive comments on what I had designed, but instead commented how the person I drew wasn’t standing correctly. That's how bad I was at drawing compared to my classmates. 

So, deconstruction (upcycling) became one way to create and design clothes without being able to make a perfect sketch. 

Since moving to NYC, I fell in love with the freedom of expression of dance and decided to train myself as a dancer without any formal training. Even though I enjoyed and loved dancing, it wasn’t easy as I didn’t have a solid dance background like many others did. In one way this was a negative, yet also a positive as my perspective and ways of moving my body were still somewhat accepted and appreciated by the dance community.  

During the pandemic, everything stopped, including my performance gigs. I decided to go back into fashion, as I had so much time to spend at home. Some fashion show opportunities came up and people liked my upcycling style as sustainability had become a big focus in fashion. Picking up unwanted clothes from the streets and experimenting with what I could do with it was fun, like playing. Yet, the business part became challenging for me, I wasn’t sure how to market myself… 

Now today, one thing has led to the other as I’ve kept my options open because I just don’t quite know where to go and what I wanted to do…I feel comfortable being in the art field as it’s broad. I like having limits to create within, yet I am not big on being pigeonholed into specific areas. Let’s see where curiosity, possibility, and the drive to have fun leads to next, let’s see what I create…