Hi, I’m Akiko. Thanks for visiting my online home.

This website is where I share my recent observations and thinking on becoming a better human as the groundwork for becoming a better anything.

I’m secretly obsessed with how we navigate and show up in our intimate relationships. It seems weird to focus on, but you’d be surprised how much light it sheds on how we show up everywhere else.

The Cities AND PLACES that Made Me

Tokyo: Where I’m from. I was born in Kobe, though

Texas: Dallas & Houston. Where I grew up

The Tri-state area: What New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut are referred to locally. Where I rode out teen angst

Providence: Where I learned to think, make things, and use my body   

Paris: Where I learned to live, love, and argue

New York: Where I learned to dream in a way that’s real 

Kyoto: Where I learned about social codes and eating well for centuries. Where I learned the meaning of cruelty and grace

Tokyo 2: Where I learned about community, and creating my own. Where I started to see my relationship to toxicity in exchange for (perceived) security.

Bali: Where I learned to slow down

Hokkaido: Where I’m writing from. Where facing fear is a prompt for living

All of the places in between: Where I learned I know less than I think

More here, if you’re curious

Influences

Formative years as a designer inspires my work of the last two decades: guiding people through transformation and global organizations through change. 

I’m a RISD grad who studied performance and dance at Brown. The design process informs my consulting work.  Performance plays into how I research/observe/analyze, and identify narrative.

Relational Intelligence fascinates me. I believe relationships are evolving, living entities. What does it mean to live a meaningful life at work, at home, in love, at play? What does it look like to stay curious through hard times, to open up space to take it apart, and ask how to build it anew? These are the questions I ask myself whether it’s relationships with others, or the one I have with myself.

Projects

Past: My first love is fashion. Clothing is an immediate and powerful tool of transformation. Heading the Japan business and the global customer experience of Maison Margiela’s retail business where none existed before might have been the world’s best place to study retail and experience design, at the time.

Present: In addition to my work as a consultant and leadership coach with The Mega Center, I’m proud to be part of HCN, a pro-bono coaching collective serving humanitarian and development workers. It’s important to me to support people who are serving people in vulnerable situations.

Near future: Taking what I’ve learned about identity, embodiment, beliefs, personal and systemic change, I’m in the planning and design stages to create a school for people to listen/unlearn, for deeper connection and empowered living.

Things I love

I love language, body language, and distinct personalities that emerge from language.

I love the food and languages from the places I’ve called home. I speak, cook, and eat Japanese, French, and American.

I enjoy meditations in various forms: Metta, Vipassana, walking, and Tinder.