Shoko Sugahara began her piano study at the age of 3. Since her grandmother Atsuko Sugahara was a piano teacher of the Suzuki Method, she was naturally surrounded by the Suzuki environment. In a manner similar to playing board games, young Shoko enjoyed memorising Issa’s Haikus (Japanese poems), played the piano, and sang many songs with her grandmother and other students.

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The time she spent listening to the records by giants such as Pablo Casals, Dinu Lipatti, Alfred Cortot, Vladimir Horowitz etc. on her grandmother’s knees is still her treasure.

She performed at The 9th Suzuki Method World Convention in 1989.

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Ms. Shoko graduated from the International Academy of the Suzuki Method in 2011. She studied piano with Fumiyo Usui, Seizo Azuma; chamber music with Motoko Toyoda and Koji Toyoda;  Suzuki philosophy with Fumiyo Kuramochi; Suzuki pedagogy with Keiko Sato and Keiko Ogiwara and music appreciation with Toshio Takahashi. 

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Ms. Shoko has taught students of all levels and ages three to over eighty years old in Tokyo, Yokohama, and Matsumoto through her Suzuki Method Sugahara Piano Studio. She has also served as a faculty of Suzuki Method Early Childhood Education in Yokohama. 

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She has been attending Suzuki conferences and teacher training workshops around the world and participated in professional development courses led by Ms. Zohara Rotem, Ms. Caroline Fraser, Ms. Kasia Borowiak, and many more Suzuki Trainers.

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Ms. Shoko relocated to Hong Kong in January 2017. From 2017 to 2020, she served as a piano faculty and accompanist at Suzuki Music Academy of Hong Kong. She taught at piano private lessons, piano group lessons and orchestra as a Associate Conductor.

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Ms. Shoko returned to Japan and re-opened her studio in 2021 in Tokyo, Yokohama and online.