[3] He took an interest in linguistics at a young age,[4] and came to know more than thirty languages, including Arabic, Hebrew, Turkish, Persian, Sanskrit, Pali, Hindustani, Russian, Greek, and Chinese.

He entered the Faculty of Economics at Keio University, but transferred to the Department of English literature wishing to be instructed by Professor Junzaburō Nishiwaki.

While in Iran he worked and collaborated with Seyyed Hossein Nasr, William Chittick, Peter Lamborn Wilson and others.

[9] He came back to Japan from Iran after the Islamic Revolution in 1979, and he wrote, seemingly more assiduously, many books and articles in Japanese on Eastern philosophy and its significance.

[10] In Sufism and Taoism: A Comparative Study of Key Philosophical Concepts (1983) he compared the metaphysical and mystical thought-systems of Sufism and Taoism, and asserted that, although historically unrelated, these two traditions share similar features and patterns.