Dr. Kihoko Tokue’s discovery has been selected as exhibit at Kitakyusyu Museum of Natural History and Human History
Leave a Nest Singapore’s Managing Director, Kihoko Tokue was a field biologist before she joined Leave a Nest Group back in 2011. Why did a field researcher decide to pursue a career at a Japanese company with the vision of “Advancing Science and Technology for Global Happiness”? Answers to that question as well as what she did as a researcher will be covered in this story.
She was born in Tokyo Japan and grew up in Singapore and Thailand before moving to the US and Australia to continue her education. She was interested in biology since secondary school and she continued to grow her interest even after joining International School Bangkok. Many teachers voted against studying biology since there are lots of terminology to memorize and will be tough for non native speakers. However I took a chance and it led me to continue my study to graduate school.
With her passion to study animal behaviour, she pursued honeyeater breeding behaviour in small town Armidale, Australia. In between her Master in Science and further degree, she was working as researcher at King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi (Thailand). Once again she was conducting research related to birds breeding behaviour in Khao Yai National Park. She published a few papers from the study in Thailand.
Current exhibit research discovery was made during her doctoral degree. When she joined Dr. Keisuke Ueda’s Lab, she was given a chance to continue a project which the lab was conducting with research students before. This research was conducted in Darwin Australia Mangrove forest when she was pursuing her PhD degree at St. Paul’s University (Rikkyo University) in Japan. She was working with other researchers from Dr. Ueda’s lab. Dr. Ueda was the person who gave me this opportunity. Also, I shouldn't forget the main researcher working alongside was Dr. Nozomu Sato, Dr. Masayoshi Kamioki and Dr. Toshitaka Suzuki. Appreciate researchers who supported me in the project and the opportunity given to carry out this research as part of my PhD Journey.
2 photos above provided by Kitakyushu Museum of Natural History and Human History
Many warned against me for pursuing my own passion too deep as they were worried I will be out of a job at the end of my PhD degree with field research. I also worried for myself from time to time. Thinking that I may not be able to make a living outside of University. Interestingly I was able to learn about Leave a Nest group as I was graduating with a PhD degree. I may not be chasing & observing birds anymore yet I fully utilize the soft skills and mindset I developed during my PhD journey. No one imagined that one day, I will be a co-founder of Leave a Nest Malaysia and Managing Director of Leave a Nest Singapore. Life is full of surprises and if you put full effort into what you are interested in, you will be pleasantly surprised to find what is staring you on the other side of the door of opportunity.
Would like to express sincere gratitude to the researchers who supported the research as well as to Kitakyusyu Museum of Natural History and Human History for exhibiting this research outcomes. Thank you for giving me a chance.