He received his M.A. and Ph.D. in economics in 2000 from the University of California, San Diego. Prior to becoming a member of the faculty of Hitotsubashi University in 2011, he joined the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) in 1993 and worked in the Economic Policy Unit of the Minister's Secretariat, Macroeconomic Affairs Division; the Planning Division of the Coal Department in the Agency of Natural Resources and Energy; the Research Division of the Small and Medium Enterprises Agency; and the Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry. His research interests focus on firm dynamics, financial intermediation, and the Japanese economy. His research has been published in a number of scholarly journals including the Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking, the Journal of Banking & Finance, and the Journal of the Japanese and International Economies.