He received his MD in 1998 from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Miyazaki, Japan. After four years of clinical work as a psychiatrist, he received his PhD in 2006 from the Department of Neuropsychiatry, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.He subsequently obtained five-year training as a postdoctoral fellow under Drs. Edith and Patrick McGeer at the Kinsmen Laboratory of Neurological Research, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. Since 2012 he has been at his present post