Her family moved to Hakuba town, Nagano Prefecture, Japan in 1986.

She graduated from Hakuba High School in 1998, and works for the Kitano Construction Corporation in Nagano city, Japan.

She is the first Japanese woman to win the 2007–08 World Cup in moguls, and also won two gold medals at FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships 2009.

In June 2009, she married alpine skier Kentaro Minagawa.

This biographical article relating to freestyle skiing in Japan is a stub.