Biography

My research interests are in: comparative politics of the developed democracies, more specifically the effects of the electoral systems on the strategies of political parties and the electorates; Japanese politics; quantitative methodology, more specifically the statistics of the causal inference and survey methodology.
I received my Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Michigan in 2011. In my dissertation project titled ‘Three Essays on the Party Strategies under the Mixed-Member Electoral System’, I examine two effects of electoral reform to the mixed-member electoral system on representation in Japan. The first two papers examine the strategic behaviour of small parties when they face a system biased against them, and the other studies unexpected institutional effect that cancels out incumbency advantage of major parties.
I taught graduate-level classes in the use of statistical computing software (Stata and R) at Michigan as primary instructor. Prior to my Ph.D., I earned a B.A. and an M.A. in Political Science from the University of Tokyo.