I'm currently a Programming Education Project Officer at MEXT. In Japan, Programming will become mandatory to be taught for the first time from the school year of 2020. My job is to make sure that all kids in Japan are going to have equal access to programming education.
I received my first master's degree in Arts and Science from The University of Tokyo, and bachelor's degree in Environmental and Information from Keio University in Japan. My research interest was Human-Computer Interaction, more particularly swimming education using underwater robot. (The video used in the article from New Scientists well explains what I made.) As a result, I was recognized by the Japanese government for innovative programming skills and was awarded the prestigious Super Creator certification.
After I graduate from The University of Tokyo, I was working for Microsoft for 4 years as a Program Manager in Office and Minecraft Education engineering teams in Tokyo and Seattle. I PMed many educational products ranging from Office Lens, Office Sway, Minecraft Hour of Code Designer, and Code Builder for Minecraft: Education Edition. My passion has been always on Products and Education. I used to be a postgraduate student for Computing in Education MA program at Kings College London to conduct CS education research before taking a leave of absense to work for MEXT.