Miki Kawabata received her BA and MA in Sociology from Keio University in Japan. Her PhD in Anthropology and Sociology from SOAS, University of London, was on identity formation among the 'return' migrants from Peru to Okinawa.
She received her training as a Japanese language teacher from the National Language Research Institute (now National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics) in Japan in 1987. Since then she has taught in Austria (University of Vienna), Japan (Saitama University, Waseda University, Kanagawa University) and the U.K. (SOAS and Imperial College).
Dr Kawabata is a senior member of the Japanese teaching staff, teaching Japanese language to undergraduates at all levels.