I was recently interviewed in The New York Times about Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono. Since Kono was appointed in August 2017, there has been much speculation about his potential as a future leader of the Liberal Democratic Party and of Japan.
After a wonderful fall semester as a postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard University Program on US-Japan Relations, I am back in Honolulu and off to a running start. I presented some of my new research on Japanese defense capacity building assistance and Abe-era security reforms at the Japan Studies Association annual conference here in Honolulu on January 6. I also chaired a very lively panel on “Japan in the Global Economy (Just Not How You Thought),” where we talked about the Tokyo Olympics, fermented food production, and pedagogy.
I’m offering two courses at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa this semester: an undergraduate course called Contemporary Asian Civilizations (ASAN 312) and our program’s graduate-level Research Seminar in Asian Studies (ASAN 750). There are still a few more open spots left!
I was recently interviewed by The New York Times about the “fresh start” in Sino-Japanese relations announced by Prime Minister Abe and President Xi and the potential for meaningful improvement between the two countries.
I enjoyed speaking with BBC World News this evening about President Trump’s visit to Asia and trade policy.
I was recently interviewed by The Washington Post about American alliances in Asia and President Trump’s contrasting personal relationships with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Korean President Moon Jae-in up to this point.
I have a short article out in Asia Dialogue today on Japan’s efforts to keep the Trans-Pacific Partnership alive after the US withdrawal from the agreement in January. Thanks to the editors for inviting me to be part of their series of pieces focusing on Japan.
On October 17, I gave a talk on my book project at the Harvard University Program on US-Japan Relations. I am currently a postdoctoral fellow in the Program on US-Japan Relations, which is part of the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs. I spoke about the framework of my project, which looks at how internationalization affects the politics of trade, and presented findings from three very different sectors: agriculture, pharmaceuticals, and insurance.
This summer, I had the pleasure of collaborating with the University of Washington Honors Program to pilot a new study abroad course in Tokyo. Being a proud UW Honors alum (and former program staff member), I was honored when Associate Director Julie Villegas asked me to help send the first-ever group of 12 Honors students to Tokyo, Japan. We created a three-week interdisciplinary curriculum on the topic of “Constructing Japanese Identity: Comparing National Narratives in Japan and the US,” exploring the complex and shifting web of narratives surrounding 
Japanese national identity in a comparative perspective. We drew on materials from both the social sciences and the humanities to discuss identity from a variety of perspectives, including history, politics, race, gender, age, religion, art, culture, and food. In addition to attending lectures by faculty from Waseda University, Toyo University, Sophia University, the Fulbright Foundation, and other Tokyo-based organizations, students also had the opportunity to visit key sites in Tokyo, Hiroshima, and Kyoto.
I recently said “a hui hou” (“until we meet again”) to my colleagues at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies. I’ll be making a transition to a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University’s Weatherhead Center for International Affairs and then returning to Honolulu to take up a tenure-track position in the Asian Studies Program at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. I had an amazing time as a faculty member at DKI APCSS, a unique hybrid institution that brings together education, research, and policy under one roof. I look forward to keeping in touch with all of my former colleagues and students!
I was happy to be the academic lead for this International Visitor Leadership Program group from Okinawa, Japan. Representatives from the Okinawa Prefectural Government, the Nisei-Nippon Shimbun, Chatan Town Office, and the Kadena Town Base Liaison Section were visiting various locations in the the United States to look at ways to improve cooperation and communication between the US military bases on Okinawa and the local community. At DKI APCSS, they participated in a roundtable on Asia-Pacific security and the US-Japan Alliance.