As a researcher, I specialize in international comparative education, educational policy, immigration, race and ethnic relations . My primary topics of research include teachers of immigrant students, transnational migration, Japanese-Brazilian communities in Brazil and Japan.

My first task in the support of immigrant students came when I was a teenager in the form of serving as translator for a new student in a nearby school when I myself had just moved from Brazil to Japan. I went on to study education and obtain teaching certificates for secondary education. I taught and also served as immigrant student counselor in Japan. I then moved to the United States to specialize in international educational policy analysis and also the investigation of immigration, race and ethnic relations.