Yuriko Backes was born on 22 December 1970 in Kobe, Japan.
After graduating with an International Baccalaureate from the Canadian Academy International School in Kobe in 1989, Yuriko Backes obtained a bachelor's degree in international relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science in 1992. She then attended the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, where she successfully completed a master's degree in Japanese studies in 1993. Yuriko Backes obtained a second master's degree in European political and administrative studies from the College of Europe in Bruges in 1994.
On 11 January 2022, Yuriko Backes, newly appointed Minister of Finance, met with Pascal Saint-Amans, Director of the Centre for Tax Policy and Administration of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to discuss the current state-of-play of the international tax reform and next steps in its implementation.
