He was supported by his father's friend Baron Hayashi in England and studied zoology for five years at Magdalene College, Cambridge, where his interest in birds grew considerably with encouragement from Dr. Francis Guillemard and A. H. Evans, culminating in his inclusion at the British Ornithologists' Union.

After graduating in Cambridge in 1927, he returned to Japan, travelling via the United States along Jean Delacour, with whom he visited China and Korea later.

The study was published in 1932–3 in the two-volume set "Birds of the Philippine Islands" after returning to London and working his collection at the British Museum and at Tring.

[5] Although he intended to return to Japan after his father's death, as he was needed to take up his position as head of the family, an illness forced him to remain in California until 1938.

He died after a brief illness in 1953 in Atami, Japan, and his work was published posthumously (The Dodo and Kindred Birds).