Lecturer in International Relations and Japanese Foreign Policy, University of East Anglia
I have spent the past 20 years working, researching and writing in the field of Japanese studies. This includes time spent as a Coordinator for International Relations and researcher in Okinawa, as a translator in Tokyo and, most recently, as Associate Professor of Public Policy at Tohoku University.
Shinzo Abe's latest cabinet reshuffle could transform Japan
Sep 28, 2019 14:07 pm UTC| Insights & Views Politics
With just two years until he will likely step down, the time left to Shinzo Abe, Japans very soon-to-be longest serving postwar prime minister, is limited. But if his latest cabinet reshuffle is anything to go by, it seems...
Profile: Japan's controversial, shrewd and ambitious Shinzo Abe
Oct 08, 2017 10:33 am UTC| Insights & Views
As Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe campaigns in a snap election, he looks set to enter into an unprecedented third term in office, and become Japans longest serving postwar prime minister. So who is he? What is the...
North Korea knows it can't afford to go to war
Aug 12, 2017 14:18 pm UTC| Insights & Views
The current flare-up over North Koreas missile tests and Donald Trumps belligerent response is frightening for many, but anyone worried that Pyongyang wants to start a war is fortunately mistaken. For all its fighting...
Japan and South Korea's latest row could have deeper consequences
Jan 18, 2017 16:17 pm UTC| Insights & Views
Japan and South Korea have reopened an old spat over wartime sexual slavery, or so-called Comfort Women. The latest flare-up began when a bronze statue of a girl representing former comfort women was installed in front of...
Japan's change in military outlook marks the end of a 'Peace State'
Dec 26, 2016 01:00 am UTC| Insights & Views
Thanks to the constitution imposed on its citizens by the US after the end of World War II, Japan has long been thought of by pacifists as a Peace State. Article 9 of the constitution states that: The Japanese people...
Johannesburg in a time of darkness: Ivan Vladislavić’s new memoir reminds us of the city’s fragility
Labour can afford to be far more ambitious with its economic policies – voters are on board
Sudan: civil war stretches into a second year with no end in sight