Short Biography

I am the first son of Shigetaka and Takiko Yoshida and was born and raised in Tokyo, Japan. I went to Waseda University Highschool where I spent three of my adolescent years practicing "Kendo", Japanese fencing. My body still aches when recalling the the rivalry match against Keio High. In the senior year, I had an opportunity to visit Berchtesgaden, Germany with other highschool students from the metropolitan area. In college, I enjoyed watching movies, reading books, travelling abroad, and to a much lesser degree, studying economics. In my junior year, I studied at Wabash College, Indiana, as an exchange student. I had a wonderful time with my friends (like this guy, Eddie) and Zachary family, whom I consider as my family in the U.S.. After graduating from Waseda University in 1996, I started my career at the Bank of Japan, the nation's central bank. They decided to send me to Duke University, North Carolina, where I am currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree at the Economics Department. I am married to Masami and we adopted a puppy (Bichon Frise) last year named "Mickey".

My favorite activities include reading various books, playing soccer and tennis, travelling, playing shogi and igo (Japanese chess), and watching a variety of sports. Being a student at Duke made me one of the Cameron Crazies, a group of enthusiastic student supporters of the Duke Basketball team!