Forum Contributors

CAPT Tomoaki NAKANO (USJLP 2019, 2024) is an active-duty officer in the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF). Over a 21-year career, he spent most of his time at sea, serving on seven naval ships and at two task group headquarters. From 2022 to 2023, he commanded the destroyer JS Fuyuzuki. His ...

Micah Murphy (USJLP 2019, 2022) was a career Surface Warfare Officer, most recently in charge of the U.S. Military Sealift Command, Pacific. He retired in early 2026, moved with his family to Upstate NY, and is now helping run the New American Industrial Alliance, a multi-sector trade organization ...

Tom Le (USJLP 2022, 2023) is an associate professor of politics at Pomona College and research affiliate at the PRIME Institute at Meiji Gakuin University. He is author of Japan’s Aging Peace: Pacifism and Militarism in the Twenty-First Century (Columbia University Press, 2021). The Japanese ...

Maggie Lewis (USJLP 2016, 2017) is a professor at Seton Hall Law where she previously also served as Associate Dean for Faculty Development and Institutional Operations. A scholar of legal issues in the U.S.-China relationship, her research focuses on China and Taiwan with an emphasis on criminal ...

Dr. Ken Jimbo (USJLP 2006, 2007) is a Managing Director of Programs at the International House of Japan (IHJ/I-House) and a Professor of International Relations at Keio University. He is concurrently an Adjunct Senior Research Fellow at the Canon Institute for Global Studies (CIGS). He served as a ...

Yuka Mizoue (USJLP 2024, 2025) has worked for TV Asahi as a TV journalist and documentary filmmaker for 20 years. Her passion and life mission are to promote gender equality in Japan through journalism. She has recently been recognized with the Media Ambitious Award for her documentary Sexism: The ...

Ryo Sahashi (USJLP 2010, 2011) is a Professor of International Relations, Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, the University of Tokyo. Dr. Sahashi specializes in international politics in East Asia. He sits on government panels, including the Council on the Use of Real Estate and the Advisory ...

Noah Sneider (USJLP 2024, 2025) is The Economist’s East Asia Bureau Chief. He primarily covers Japan, North Korea, and South Korea. He also contributes to coverage of China, Taiwan, the Pacific, and the Philippines and to broader thematic coverage of Asia. Prior to this, he led the paper’s coverage ...

Miyuki Inoue (USJLP 2015, 2016) is a newspaper journalist and currently works within the president’s office, exploring the future direction of journalism and media amid a period of rapid transformation. She holds a master’s degree in International Relations from Columbia University’s School of ...

Kenji Kushida (USJLP 2014, 2015) is a Senior Fellow at the Asia Program in the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP), directing Japan research and programming themed “Innovative Japan, Global Japan,” and he leads the Japan-Silicon Valley Innovation Initiative @ Carnegie. He is also ...

Sohei Ide (USJLP 2016, 2017) is a journalist for Japan’s Kyodo News with over 25 years of career reporting on macroeconomy, fiscal, and monetary policy. His latest book, “Talking To The World’s Great Minds About What Comes After Capitalism”(2024), explores progressive ideas for a radical overhaul ...

Mineko Okamoto (USJLP 2003, 2004) is a Public Editor at the Asahi Shimbun. She joined the company as a reporter in 1989, mainly covering social security and healthcare policy. She also has extensive experience in the city news section and local bureaus, reporting on a wide range of issues from ...

Kyoichi Sasazawa (USJLP 2007, 2008) is an award-winning Japanese journalist and a Project Professor in International Journalism at Juntendo University Faculty of International Liberal Arts. He has previously worked for The Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan's leading national newspaper, and served as a science ...

Daisuke Furuta (USJLP 2022, 2023) is the editor-in-chief of the Japan Fact-check Center(JFC). He started his career at The Asahi Shimbun and later moved to BuzzFeed, where he served as the founder and editor-in-chief of its Japan edition. In 2019, he left BuzzFeed and began working as a freelance ...

Atsushi Shiraki (USJLP 2024, 2025) is an associate professor at the University of the Ryukyus Law School and a divorce counsel qualified in Japan, New York, and Maryland. His academic interests include conflict of laws, family law, and transnational litigation. As a Fulbright Scholar, he studied at ...