Takeda Kiyoko was co-founder of the Institute of Asian Cultural Studies at the International Christian University (ICU) in Tokyo, where she was based from 1953. She received a PhD in Literature from the University of Tokyo in 1961 and became a professor emerita after her retirement in 1988. Over the course of her career, she published extensively on Christianity in Japan and held leadership positions in ecumenical organizations in Japan and globally. Through involvement in international ecumenical organizations, she contributed to restoring friendly relations and mutual understanding between Japanese and other Asian peoples after the Second World War. She was President (Asia-Pacific) of the World Council of Churches (1971-75).