Welcome! I am a Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Maritime Safety and Security Studies (CeMaS), Japan Coast Guard Academy. I also teach at Sophia University as an Adjunct Lecturer. Previously, I was a Postdoctoral Scholar at UC San Diego’s School of Global Policy and Strategy (GPS).
I study international security with a focus on how and when rising powers provoke counterbalancing responses from neighboring states, particularly in the context of China and East Asia. My book project argues that material and status‑based constraints limit China’s aggression, pushing it toward gray zone tactics that raise regional anxiety but stop short of prompting rapid military buildup, leading Indo‑Pacific states to adopt measured responses. A stand‑alone manuscript from this project, “The Threat of China’s Rise Reconsidered,” received the Best Graduate Student Paper Award from the American Political Science Association’s Foreign Policy section. My other ongoing work includes a game‑theoretic analysis of military conflict, research on arms competition in East Asia, studies of Japan’s evolving defense policy, and projects on maritime security in the region.
I received my Ph.D. in Political Science and International Relations from the University of Southern California, where I was a 2022-2024 U.S.-Asia Grand Strategy Pre-Doctoral Fellow at the Korean Studies Institute. Before entering the Ph.D. program, I served nine years in the Japanese Ministry of Defense (MOD) and in the Cabinet Office. My service includes working as Deputy Director for the Strategic Intelligence Division at MOD from 2017 to 2019.
