Professor Takenaka, a Washington Research Foundation Simpson Professor of Law, joined the UW law school faculty in 1993 and teaches Patent Law, Advanced Patent Law, Intellectual Property and Intellectual Property Innovations in Science and Technology. She is the Director of Center for Advanced Study and Research on Intellectual Property (CASRIP) and the Associate Director of the Intellectual Property Law and Policy LL.M. Program.

After receiving a Bachelor of Law degree from Seikei University, Tokyo, Professor Takenaka pursued a successful career in patent prosecution and management with Texas Instruments Japan Ltd., where she served as a patent prosecution specialist. In 1986, she passed the Japanese Patent Attorney (Benrishi) Bar and worked as an associate for the Yamasaki Law and Patent Office.

She was a visiting scholar with the Max Planck Institute for Domestic and International Intellectual Property in Munich, Germany, and a visiting professor at Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan. She has extensively published in the field of comparative patent law and is a frequent speaker for academic and professional seminars focusing on patent law. She is on the board of editors for Journal of Intellectual Property Law and Practice.