Arata substantially contributed to develop a new interdisciplinary field by harmonizing molecular biology, analytical chemistry, biophysics and plant/agricultural sciences, with microengineering and nanoscience.
After graduating from Japanese La Salle Academy, he received his BS, MS, and PhD degrees all in electrical engineering, specialized in MEMS and Bio-MEMS, from the University of Tokyo.
In accordance with the advice by Phillip Allen Sharp, he moved into the field of single molecule biophysics under the advisory of Jean-Louis Viovy at Curie Institute (Paris).
He also studied under Pascal Rogé and Philippe Entremont at Conservatoire de Nice summer academie, and Gabriel Tacchino at Mozarteum University of Salzburg.
Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings,[10] when he honored the support from Boehringer Ingelheim Foundation and Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.