Chieko Hirota is a doctoral student at the graduate school of Chiba University.

Her major is area studies and cultural anthropology. In December 2022, she was awarded a PhD for a thesis on the decorative culture of Kazakhs in Mongolia.

She has been interested in the practice of Kazakhs living in western Mongolia, which is the enthusiastic decoration of the interiors of their yurt dwellings (known in Kazakh as “kiiz-ui”), and has conducted research to find out the background to this practice.
Hirota has also examined the present pastoralism and social interactions among relatives in relation to the keeping of the decorative habits of the Kazakhs in Mongolia. The main research place is Bayan-Ulgii Province, Mongolia.

She is currently interested in how the demand for and the use of decoration have changed in Kazakh society as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.