WASHINGTON -- She was an appraiser for the White House on gifts Ronald Reagan and George Bush received from Japan and is the owner of a reputable gallery in Washington, D.C.

Teruko Okuda's Gallery Okuda International sits in Georgetown's Canal Square on busy M Street. For the nearly five years that it's been open, her gallery has been providing young Japanese artists with what is still too rare an opportunity to exhibit their work in the U.S. Okuda has also given American artists the chance to introduce their work at her gallery and at Tokyo's Daimaru Museum.

"I think I have been bringing Japanese sophistication to the U.S. through my gallery, while taking reputable contemporary American work to Japan," Okuda explains. "I'm most thrilled when the work is well received, sometimes to a degree that surprises the artists themselves."

Okuda didn't set out to become an art dealer in the U.S. In 1977, she was simply a housewife who moved with her husband and their 4-year-old son to Washington, D.C. for her husband's job. Okuda had never studied art, nor had she any previous career experience in that field.

Art had been a part of her life, however, since childhood. The old house in Yamagata where she grew up was filled with antiques, paintings and other kinds of art. Okuda's father, a prefectural governor, had many artist friends who visited the house.

She stepped into the art world in 1982, at the age of 40, as an assistant at the now defunct Fisher Gallery in D.C. It was an old gallery which handled a rather interesting combination of art: Chinese antique ceramics and American Impressionist paintings.

Her job was to help Japanese customers get art for their offices and homes.

The gallery had also conducted appraisal services on gifts from foreign countries given to Republican presidents. Okuda took on some of the work. She appraised gifts from Japan, registered them in English and Japanese and stored them.

"It was a modest job, which demanded utmost care, but was certainly a great experience. I would probably not otherwise have had a chance to work that closely with National Treasure-class art from Japan," recalls Okuda, adding with a chuckle, "or discuss Japanese art with thirtysomething yuppies at the administrations' Gift Department who had no clue why the simplest-looking wabi-ish items, for instance, could be so expensive."

One of the challenges she faced working with Japanese clients at Fisher was trying to introduce them to American art. "They somehow preferred Japanese antiques or French paintings," she says. "But I have always recommended American art, saying that they can support American culture this way.

"What kind of art one has is more important than one realizes, because it reveals one's taste, intelligence, how one lives and much more," she says.

Okuda became an independent art consultant in 1987, convinced that she had enough clients of her own. This made it possible for her to deal with a wider range of art. The timing was excellent; Japan was still thriving in its bubble economy, and she soon began to receive corporate orders on an unprecedented scale. She began flying back and forth between Japan and the U.S., exploring the work of new artists. "I like contemporary art," she says, "because it's vibrant and energetic. When I search for new artists, I always look for distinctive originality, creativity and imagination in their art. If I find even a sliver of those, I'm more than happy to give them a chance and watch them grow."

For Okuda, opening her own gallery in 1995 was a natural next step. There was a demand for a place to showcase young Japanese talent and the financial incentive of being able to open a comparatively affordable, comfortably spaced gallery in D.C. In addition, it seemed easier to sell art in the U.S., where larger houses allow more space for art. Most of all, she believes that young talented artists have more chance at success in America than in Japan, regardless of their educational background or connections in the art world.

Still, her gallery had a tough time for the first few years. Now things are better. Some works she handled were sold for public spaces, such as museums and to a university.

The gallery is currently holding "Beyond Boundaries: A Collaborative Art Exhibit from the United States and Japan," an exhibition of contemporary art by nine American and Japanese artists. The works gathered transcend "boundaries" of nationalities, age (from 28 to 67) and materials (stainless steel, glass and wood to shredded newspaper and clay).

"In an increasingly borderless world, different ideas, even opposing ones, will continue to fuse with one another or seek coexistence," Okuda says, explaining the idea behind the exhibition.

For Okuda, the gallery has been an American Dream come true. "I think I can find peace of mind in the art dealing business more than any other way," Okuda says. "I want to continue to get involved with society through art this way as long as possible."