Mieko's association with ASBA and Shirley Sherwood, PhD, OBE, began in 1995, when she exhibited work in the International Exhibition at the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation and attended her first ASBA conference.
Through the recommendation of Kazunori Kurokawa, an honorary director of ASBA and a colleague of James J. White (then Curator of Art at the Hunt), Mieko and three other Japanese artists were able to travel to Pittsburgh for the Hunt exhibition.
They returned home inspired by botanical art from around the world and grateful for the opportunity to experience the Hunt International Exhibition. Following the Hunt reception, encounters with Dr Shirley Sherwood and Sylvester March of the U.S. National Arboretum drew Mieko into the world of botanical art.
The following year, in 1996, Dr Sherwood visited Japan, and two of Mieko’s cherry blossom works became part of the Shirley Sherwood Collection.
In 2001, Mieko was invited to have a solo exhibition at the U.S. National Arboretum by Director Thomas Elias. Mieko recognized ASBA's international presence, thanks in part to encouragement from member Martha Kemp, and joined ASBA later that year.
In 2003, Mieko held a solo exhibition at the Japanese Embassy in Washington, D.C. Japanese cherry trees were gifts from Japan to the United States in 1912. She hoped her botanical artwork of Japanese cherry blossoms, created 90 years later, would be a source of healing to some and a symbol of peace in the aftermath of 9/11.
Mieko continues to introduce contemporary Japanese botanical art to audiences through exhibitions abroad. In 2005, her work was included in the USNBG show entitled First North American Exhibition of Conservation Portraits, and Botanical Illustration of Japan's Endangered Plants at the Chicago Botanic Garden.
In 2016, she helped organize Flora Japonica at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. For the first time, this exhibition featured outstanding contemporary Japanese artists along with historic Japanese botanical paintings by Kan-en Iwasaki (1786- 1842), Chikusai Kato (1818-1886), and Tomitaro Makino 1862-1957), among others. It was one the most successful exhibitions in the gallery’s history.
Mieko also has a life passion that connects directly to her artwork. Her rainforest botanical paintings result from an interest that began in her youth.
In 1994, she first visited Borneo, Malaysia, with her husband, a rainforest journalist. She was fascinated by the majesty of its rainforest and has visited the island almost every year since then. In 1998, she climbed Borneo’s Mount Kinabalu, which rises 4,095.2 meters above sea level. In 13 separate trips, Mieko realized a childhood dream—completing four life-size Rafflesia works depicting three species of the world’s largest flower.
The life force generated by the exquisite symbiotic relationship between the diverse flora and fauna of Borneo's majestic tropical rainforests is a precious regenerative function of the Earth. Every time Mieko visits the area, she witnesses the alarming reality of deforestation caused by palm plantations. She is actively involved in educational activities in Japan and abroad to raise awareness about the rainforest through botanical art. She also belongs to organizations such as the World Wildlife Fund, which is active in protecting forests and acquiring land for the animals that live there.
In 2022, Mieko exhibited work at Flora Southeast Asia in Singapore, and Grootbos, a private nature reserve in South Africa, and served as a judge for the Botanical Painting Contest at the Science Museum in Japan, encouraging the next generation of young artists.
Her passion for botanical art is an expression of her sincere interest in living plants, a tribute to their beauty, and the source of her own message of environmental protection. She will continue to paint the plants of the rainforest in hope of reaching as many people as possible with her message.