Born in Washington, D.C. in 1959.
He studied Buddhist psychology at Nalanda University in India. After graduating from college in the U.S., he studied Chinese medicine at Gyondong Medical University in China, and came to Japan in 1988 to become a granddisciple of Tsunekazu Miyamoto, where he conducted research on Japanese ethnology and founded the sustainable community Brownsfield. He was involved in various projects related to Japanese fermentation culture, including "Hakko-Do." He has since worked as an author, photographer, and government advisor. He invented the Japanese government's tourism slogan "Japan Endless Discovery" and also serves as a policy advisor to the Ministry of the Environment. 2013, he received the Commissioner for Cultural Affairs Commendation Award.
As a photographer and documentary film producer, his work on Japanese deep culture that transcends contemporary time and individual existence has been featured on NHK, CNN, and National Geographic magazine, and has been collected by museums in Japan and abroad. He has also produced films such as "Gates of Shinto" with French director Jean-Claude Lubchansky.
After working as a part-time lecturer for the "ROCKET Cross-Culture Education Program" at the University of Tokyo's Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, he became a specially appointed professor at the Shizenkan Graduate School of Art and Design. Currently leads a seminar on Japanese sound culture at Hakuhodo's "University of Creativity.
He is the author of "Our Nippon" (Shogakukan), "Nihonryoku" (co-authored with Seigo Matsuoka) (PARCO), "Japanese Samurai Fashion" (Akaasha Publishing), "Losing Japan" (Shogakukan), "Nihon no Menei" (Harvest Publishing), "Ancestral Land: Japanese Body Sense - Culture Reading and Understanding Japanese Culture" (Shobunsha), "The Kyoto School Gene" (Tankosha), "UMUI" and many others.