Rei Kaneko was born in Tokyo, but studied in Yokohama, where she was awarded her degree in literature. She is a scholar of linguistics (Italian Studies), teaches the Italian language and is also a translator from the Italian into the Japanese. For the latter, she was awarded a scholarship from the Italian Government.

At present she works at the University for Foreigners at Siena (Department of Italian Language Teaching) and teaches the Italian language at the Dante Alighieri Society (Siena Branch).