Hiroko currently lives in Fujisawa City, a seaside town located 50 km south of Tokyo, but she was born and raised in a small town in Saitama Prefecture (north of Tokyo) that is famous for ancient tombs constructed in mid 5th century. She studied international communication at a college in Tokyo where she lived in a dormitory and met students and faculty from different parts of the world. After graduation she worked for an American bank’s Tokyo branch for 6 years and also worked as an English teacher. It has been 18 years since she started working as a licensed tour guide. Now she sometimes work as an instructor for novice guides.
Nobody would believe that she was once a shy girl but now she loves meeting people very much, especially those with different cultural backgrounds. For her being a tour guide is ‘discovering her own country’, which she really enjoys.
Her interests varies from pop music to traditional theater such as Kabuki and Bunraku (puppet show), tea ceremony and gardening. She is a regular Kabukiza theater goer and a big fan of certain Kabuki family. She has enjoyed watching actors in four generations of this family. As for gardening Hiroko believes her sister and she have inherited the love for flowers from their father who used to have an impressive bonsai collection.