Born and raised in Osaka, Japan, Yoko spent eight years of her childhood in South Korea and Indonesia. Witnessing the inequalities between the rich and the poor, and the inadequate infrastructure in Jakarta in the 90s, sparked her passion for international development. With an academic background in international law and politics, Yoko worked with the Japan International Cooperation Agency and the United Nations Development Programme, supporting governments’ projects worldwide in sectors such as disaster risk reduction, agriculture, and water supply. Recently, she focused on assisting governments of Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos PDR, and others in enhancing their legal and judicial systems and professional capacities to uphold justice and the rule of law. Through the MPP, she aspires to deepen her policy-level knowledge to better address development policy challenges in a way that meets people’s needs, including the vulnerable, with a particular focus on the fields of justice and human rights.