Studied Architecture at the Technical University Delft. Received a BA from the Economics Department at Erasmus University Rotterdam, studied one year as exchange student at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London and graduated from Leiden University in 1994 with an MA in Japanese Studies. She worked as a junior researcher at Leiden University from 1995-1997. She was a visiting researcher, sponsored by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, at the Graduate School of Policy Science at Saitama University (1997-1999), and subsequently worked one year as research associate at the Asian Development Bank Institute in Tokyo. She has been with GRIPS since April 2000.