Yoko is a researcher working for Setsunan University as an Associate Professor and is a member of Catch-up Organics program at PLUSLIGION. As a researcher, she has studied the distribution, consumption, and the certification system of organic food market, and in recently years she poured much of her energy into market data collection and its compilation to grasp the scale and trend of organic food market in Japan. At the University, she teaches food business and statistics, as well as the basics of organic agriculture.

She has been involved in organic movement for more than 20 years. In 1999, she started to work with organic famers’ groups in Osaka, and in 2005 – 2008, she ran a nonprofit organization to promote organic farming in Osaka metropolitan area. After moving to Sendai, she and her colleagues launched a monthly food education program in 2012, and in 2017 she started a promotional campaign “Organic Week Sendai.” Coming back to Osaka in 2020, she began to teach organic farming as part of official university curriculum, and in 2022, she joined Catch-up Organics program to expand her educational activities to wider public. She currently serves as a member of the Organic Innovation & Technology Platform (OIT), and a board member of the Japanese Society of Organic Agriculture Science.