Tanaka was born in 1947 in Japan but grew up in Mountain View, California.
Yoshitaka Tamai Professor at the Institute of Buddhist Studies, an affiliate of the Graduate Theological Union at Berkeley, California.
Tanaka is the author of numerous articles and books on the subject of Buddhism.
He produced and appeared in a television series sponsored by the Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai foundation that aired in 2005, with DVDs later distributed.
[5] He gave the keynote address at the 750th memorial observance of Shinran in February 2010.