Akemi Tanaka is descended from a family of samurai who fought alongside the fifteenth-century warrior-poet Ota Dokan. She grew up in Japan, but now lives in London with her English husband. Akemi is an established cultural communicator on Japan, regularly leading cultural study tours back to her homeland, and giving presentations at schools, universities, and cultural centers. Akemi founded the charity Aid For Japan and was recently given an award by the British government in recognition of her charity work for the orphans of the 2011 tsunami. She is also an expert in tea ceremony, for which she dresses in high traditional costume, and demonstrates this ancient art as a master class in mindfulness and gratitude.