Research & Analysis

I have excellent research and analysis skills. A key element of this is the high speed and high accuracy with which I read, and my ability to analyze patterns, insights, and key takeaways from across multiple sources. For a concrete demonstration of my reading comprehension skills, specifically, see my book reviews on By More Than Providence: Grand Strategy and American Power in the Asia Pacific Since 1783 and Overcoming Isolationism: Japan’s Leadership in East Asian Security Multilateralism. Beyond just reading quickly, accurately, and widely, I am also adept at finding relevant resources - both online and physically. I have experience using politicians’ personal webpages, Tweets, and digital newspaper archives as data sources, combing US and Japanese government publications to find particular pieces of data, and conducting research at the US Library of Congress in Washington, DC, and the Japanese National Diet Library and the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Archives in Tokyo. I also use Stata and R to analyze patterns, insights, and key takeaways from quantitative data, such as the Alliance Treaty Obligations and Provisions (Leeds, Ritter, Mitchell, and Long 2002) dataset and the Confronting the Costs of War (Zielinski 2016) dataset.

Synthesis & Communication

I also have excellent synthesis and communication skills. I can synthesize ideas and write with high speed and high clarity. Furthermore, I am adept at tailoring my writing to different audiences and different formats. Longer form work includes peer-reviewed articles such as “Australia’s submarine technology cooperation with Japan as burden-sharing with the USA in the Asia-Pacific”, and shorter form work includes pieces I have written for The Diplomat and various other outlets. My strong writing skills have also made me successful in receiving competitive fellowships from the National Science Foundation and Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. I also have excellent verbal and visual communication skills. I have given multiple talks at MIT, and also at Yale University and the University of Tokyo.

Expert Interviews

Interviewing experts is one of my core skills. I have used expert interviews in various formal roles - including as a columnist for The Diplomat, a news producer for a Japanese TV broadcaster, and a risk consultant at a risk intelligence startup - as well as for independent research projects. Talking to experts and asking them thoughtful questions is one of the best ways to research a new topic. In addition to general information gathering, I try to ask questions that probe the expert to think of the issue in a new way or uncover a hidden angle. For some samples of my expert interview skills, see my published interview with Stephen Biddle on the future of warfare in the Western Pacific, and a published written piece based on my interview with David Suzuki on the risks of casino legalization in Japan. I also relied heavily on interviews when writing for The Diplomat on the lifting of Japan’s arms embargo and on the one-year anniversary of Japan’s new state secrets law.