Takuya Takashima graduated from the music education programme of the Hokkaido University of Education in Sapporo in 2001, having been taught by oboist Iwasaki Hiromasa from the Sapporo Symphony Orchestra. He studied at the Sibelius Academy in Finland first as an exchange student in 2000–2001 and then as a fully enrolled student, graduating as Master of Music in 2008.

Takashima made his debut as soloist for the Sapporo Symphony Orchestra in 1999 and in 2000 he won the first prize in the competition organized by the Hokkaido International Music Exchange Society (HIMES) and in the Lahti Wind Instrument Competition.

He has performed as soloist with several orchestras, including the Daejeon Chamber Orchestra from South Korea and the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra. He has played as guest solo oboist with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Finnish National Opera, Tapiola Sinfonietta, Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Norwegian Radio Orchestra, the Norwegian National Opera Orchestra and the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra. He has also performed at a number of music festivals.

Together with composer Paul Schütze, Takashima has recorded improvisation music for Josiah McElheny’s installation “Island Universe”, exhibited in art museums in London and Madrid. He has also recorded composer Hans Gál’s Trio for oboe, violin and viola op. 94 with violist Hanna Pakkala and violinist Reijo Tunkkari (Toccata Classics, 2019).

Takashima is a visiting teacher at the Sibelius Academy and the Arts Academy of Turku UAS.