He first studied urban planning and earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in engineering from the University of Tokyo, Japan. He developed scientific interest in human spatial cognition and navigation through his urban planning research, and decided to pursue an academic career in cognitive psychology and neuroscience. He obtained an MA in psychology and a PhD in psychological and brain sciences from the Johns Hopkins University, USA. He was a postdoctoral scientist in psychology at the George Washington University, USA (2007–2009) and an assistant professor of psychology at Cleveland State University, USA (2009–2014). Since 2014, he is at the Queensland University of Technology, Australia, serving as a lecturer (2014–2018) and a senior lecturer (2018–) in psychology and counselling.