Current Non-Resident SPF Fellows

Mr. John Hemmings is engaged as an assistant in developing and coordinating Royal United Services Institute for Defense and Security Studies (RUSI) Japan-related research and conference activities both in RUSI’s Whitehall premises and in Tokyo with partners including the British Embassy, Asia Forum Japan (AFJ), National Institute of Defense Studies (NIDS), and Japan Forum for Strategic Studies (JFSS). From 1999 to 2005, he lived and worked in Japan as a teacher of English as a foreign language before undertaking an MA in International Peace & Security at King’s College, London. His dissertation was entitled “A Force for Regional Security? Adapting the US-Japan Alliance to the Future”. He began interning at RUSI in April 2007. After graduation he was appointed to the department full-time, both as an administrator and as a research analyst for RUSI’s Asia Programme. He has published various commentaries in RUSI publications as well as the Japanese and British media on Japanese politics and security issues.

Ms. Kumiko Igushi has engaged in both government relations, based on her strong relationship with Japanese government, and corporate strategy advisory boards, based on her exceptional research, data analysis, problem-solving and strategy-making capabilities. She also has experience in consultation for Japanese Government’s “e-Japan Project” during her tenure with Deloitte Consulting in 2000, and in lobbying as Japan regional representative for Hewlett-Packard in 2003-2005. She earned both bachelor and master degrees in law from the University of Tokyo. She has served as research assistant for the Japanese Constitutional Revision Research Project since July, 2008 at the Edwin O. Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies, Harvard University. Before enrolling at Harvard (John F. Kennedy School of Government) in August, 2007, she had worked in a management position for Aon Corporation (insurance broker and HR consulting), Hewlett-Packard (IT hardware, software, and solution services), Deloitte Consulting (accounting, IT, and business management consulting), and Recruit (Advertising, publishing, and HR consulting) in Japan.

Mr. Kei Koga is a RSIS-MacArthur visiting associate fellow at S.Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University, and a PhD candidate in International Relations at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University. He was the 2009-2010 Vasey Fellow at Pacific Forum CSIS. His research interests include international relations theory, international institutions, international security, terrorism, East Asian regionalism, US-Japan relations, and ASEAN. Before attending Fletcher, he served as a research fellow at the Japan Forum on International Relations (JFIR) and as assistant executive secretary at the Council on East Asian Community (CEAC), where he researched political and security cooperation in East Asia on traditional and nontraditional security issues. He also taught international relations and East Asian security at the Open University of Japan. He received an MA in international affairs at the Elliott School of international affairs, George Washington University, and a BA in international affairs at Lewis & Clark College. His recent publications include “The Anatomy of North Korea’s Foreign Policy Formulation” (North Korean Reviews, 2009), “The Normative Power of the ‘ASEAN Way’” (Stanford Journal of East Asian Affairs, 2010), and “Regionalizing the Japan-US Alliance,” (Issues & Insights, 2010).

Mr. Tetsuo Kotani is a PhD candidate at Doshisha University. His dissertation focus is on the strategic implication of homeporting US carriers in Japan. His other research interests include US-Japan relations, international relations in the Asia-Pacific region, and maritime security. He is a member of the International Advisory Council, Project 2049 Institute, and the Book Review Editor of the Journal of Indian Ocean Region. He was a research fellow at the Ocean Policy Research Foundation and a visiting fellow at the US-Japan Center at Vanderbilt University. He received a security studies fellowship at Research Institute for Peace and Security (RIPS), 2006-2008. He won the 2003 Japanese Defense Minister Prize.

Ms. Lynn Miyahira received an undergraduate research grant to study conflicting opinions about the US military bases in Okinawa, Japan. After receiving her undergraduate degree, she lived in Okinawa for 5 years as a coordinator for international relations, teaching English, and organizing events for the local government. It was during this time she was able to further her understanding of the US military bases in Okinawa—having had friends and relatives on both sides of the fence. After moving back to Hawaii from Okinawa, she started her MBA at the Shidler College of Business at the University of Hawaii to deepen her understanding of economics, finance, and management. During her MBA, she held an internship at the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan and gained much insight into the US-Japan security alliance and other ways in which Japan and the US engage in economic, military, and political affairs. Her Japanese language ability is advanced enough to read newspapers and understand business meetings, and she passed the JLPT level-1 exam in 2006. Being a 4th generation Japanese-American of Okinawan ancestry, she is deeply committed to the prosperity of both the US and Japan.

Ms. Naoko Noro is a research fellow at the Research Institute of Science and Technology for Society, Japan Science and Technology Agency (RISTEX/JST), Tokyo, Japan.  Her research interests include East Asian security, counter-terrorism, US-Japan security relationship, science and technology, and foreign policies. Before joining RISTEX, Ms. Noro was an associate research fellow at Japan Forum on International Relations, Inc. (JFIR). She was responsible for coordinating international conferences, such as the Network of East Asian Think-Tank (NEAT) and US-Japan Dialogue on Asian Security. She managed research projects, such as Japan-European Cooperation on Security Issues and Japan-China Relationship on Energy, Environmental Issues.  Ms. Noro earned a BA in political science at the Hunter College of the City University of New York, and an MA in security policy studies at the Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University.  During her stay in Washington DC, Ms. Noro worked as an intern at the Japan Chair of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), and as a Program Assistant at the Sasakawa Peace Foundation USA.

Mr. Taku Otsuka was elected as a member of the House of Representatives in September 2005. In the House, he served on the Security Committee, the Committee on Cabinet, the Special Committee on Prevention of International Terrorism and Japan’s Cooperation and Support; Humanitarian Assistance for Reconstruction in Iraq, and the Special Committee on Political Ethics and Election Law.  In the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), he served as the deputy director general of the International Bureau. In the last election held in August 2009, he lost his seat.  He has already started his campaign toward the next general election.  Before entering politics, he worked in the financial sector (the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Ltd) and received a Master in Public Policy degree from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and a B.A. in Law from Keio University.  He is currently serving as an affiliated fellow at National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) on foreign policy and science and technology policy.

Ms. A. Greer Pritchett is an MA student at Harvard University. She was the assistant project director at the Forum on Asia-Pacific Security at the National Committee on American Foreign Policy in New York. In that capacity, she managed projects on US, China, and cross-Strait relations, multilateral cooperation for a denuclearized Korean Peninsula, the US alliances with Japan and South Korea; and a quadrilateral dialogue bringing together the United States, Japan, China and the Republic of Korea (ROK) to discuss both regional and global security issues. Previously she received a Princeton in Asia fellowship which enabled her to serve as a visiting lecturer at the China Foreign Affairs University in Beijing for the 2007-2008 academic year. Ms. Pritchett has also worked for the International Crisis Group and the International Peace Academy (now International Peace Institute). Ms. Pritchett has been a member of the Young Leaders program since 2007 and has participated in Asia-Pacific security conferences in Taipei, Tokyo, Beijing, Washington, DC and Honolulu. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude from Hunter College, CUNY majoring in political science and classical and oriental studies.

Mr. Takahiro Yamamoto holds a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy from The Fletcher School at Tufts University. He earned BA in international relations from The University of Tokyo in 2008. Aside from a consultant position in an IT firm that he had in the summer of 2007, he interned at the International Affairs Division of Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) in the winter of 2007 and also held a short-term position at the Russian Division of Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the spring of 2007. From 2007 to 2008 he worked with Dr. Daniel Aldrich of Purdue University on a research project addressing disaster recovery. He worked as a researcher for a joint project of The Fletcher School and Hitachi Research Institute on international migration in the summer of 2009. His interests include security issues in Northeast Asia, nuclear proliferation, and the role of language and translation in diplomacy. He intends to embark upon a PhD study on modern history of Japan in the fall of 2011.

Mr. Wataru Yamaguchi is a PhD student in political science at Doshisha University. He waived his senior year of undergraduate studies and entered the Graduate School of Law at Doshisha University in 2008. His prior education includes a MA in political science from Doshisha University in 2010. His research interests include Japanese diplomacy in the 1980s and US-Japan security relationship. His master's thesis focused on the Japanese attempt to dispatch minesweepers of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force or guard vessels of the Maritime Safety Agency toward the Persian Gulf in 1987. He was an intern at the Research Institute for Peace and Security (RIPS) in 2008 and will be a visiting researcher at Stanford University in September.