Graduated from the Japan Institute of the Moving Image.

He started out as a production assistant at Nippon Animation before moving into assistant directing roles on several World Masterpiece Theatre projects in the late 80s. From there he worked at Tezuka Productions and Studio Ghibli, eventually making the jump to Studio 4°C around the time of Ghibli's talent exodus. After contributing to a handful of 4°C projects, he largely stepped back from anime—though he did surface as supervising director on the 2011 Thundercats reboot.

His career has put him in the orbit of some major names: he's worked under Osamu Dezaki, Isao Takahata, Hayao Miyazaki, Koji Morimoto, and Katsuhiro Otomo.

What really sets him apart is his technical expertise. He's deeply into digital tools and processes—3DCG, digital photography, and software development are all in his wheelhouse. In 2014 he published "After Effects Expressions Quick Reference," a practical guide for animators and VFX artists. He maintained a technical blog called dA-tools for years.

More recently, he's been working with 3D animation studio Orange on projects like Houseki no Kuni and Beastars.