Takako Arai was born in 1966 in Kiryū City, Gunma Prefecture (Japan) to a family engaged in textile manufacturing, a traditional industry in Kiryū. She is a graduate of Keio University's literature department. Her first collection of poetry, Haōbekki, was published in 1997. Her second collection, Tamashii Dance (Soul Dance), was published in 2007 and awarded the 41st Oguma Hideo Prize. An anthology of English translations of her poetry, Soul Dance, was published in 2008.
Since 1998 she has been a contributor to, and eventually editor of Mi’Te, a journal featuring poetry and criticism. Arai also writes on language and folklore, and has produced a series of writings on the poet Sakutarō Hagiwara. She has an interest in the performing arts, especially the butoh dancer, Kazuo Ohno, and the playwright, Jūrō Kara. She teaches Japanese language and culture to foreign students at Saitama University's Center for International Exchange. In 2006, she performed at the Festival of Contemporary Japanese Women Poets in New York City, and in 2008, she was on the Executive Committee planning the Tokyo Poetry Festival.