He graduated from the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Waseda University and then assumed the present post. After working in a department dealing with modern and contemporary materials on Tokyo and in a Special Collections Room holding various formats of rare materials, he developed an interest in ephemera, that is, minor printed materials produced for a specific purpose and usually dissipating without being considered worthy of preservation. In addition to his work, he studies the issues surrounding the position of ephemera as a ‘resource’ in libraries and other institutions in the academic field. His favourite genre of ephemera is pre-war advertising matchbox labels.