Areas of Expertise

The political economy and social history of modern Japan and nationalism in Asia. Professor Kingston's op-eds and book reviews appear in The GuardianWashington PostNikkei Asia ReviewForeign PolicyWall Street JournalFinancial Times and CNN. The BBC, CNN, Al-Jazeera, CCTV, CNA, CNBC, Reuters, Bloomberg, CBS, ABC, Time, AP, NHK, Voice of America and other media organizations interview him frequently.

Teaching Interests

Professor Kingston teaches courses on modern Japanese history; contemporary Japan; Japan's relations with Asia; and US foreign policy. He is director of Asian Studies at TUJ.

Research

Professor Kingston's research interests focus on Asian nationalisms, contemporary Japan, contested history and transitional justice in Asia. He has also written extensively on press freedom and the 3.11 natural and nuclear disasters.

Representative Publications

  • Pandemic Asia-Special Issue - Asia Pacific Journal Japan Focus, Part I and Part II (2020).
  • Japan’s Olympic Games: Past and Present - Special Issue - Asia Pacific Journal Japan Focus. Introduction to the Special IssuePart I and Part II (2020).
  • Japan (2019).
  • The Politics of Religion, Nationalism and Identity (2019).
  • Press Freedom in Asia (2019).
  • Critical Issues in Contemporary Japan (2019).
  • Press Freedom in Contemporary Japan (2017).
  • Nationalism in Asia: A History Since 1945 (2016).
  • Asian Nationalisms Reconsidered (2016).
  • "Empire of the Setting Sun", Foreign Policy August 15, 2016.
  • "The Japan Lobby and Public Diplomacy", The Asia-Pacific Journal, Vol. 14, issue 9, no. 1, May 1. 2016.
  • "Devastating Consequences, Flawed Responses: Japan’s 3.11 Tragedy", in Feener and Daly, ed. Rebuilding Asia, Cambridge University Press 2016.
  • "Marriage and Family in Crisis in Contemporary Japan", in Celello and Kholoussy, ed. Rebuilding Asia, Domestic Tensions, National Anxieties, Oxford 2016.
  • "Japanese University Humanities and Social Sciences Programs Under Attack", The Asia-Pacific Journal, September 28, 2015. Volume 13, Issue 39, Number 1.
  • "SEALDs: Students Slam Abe’s Assault on Japan’s Constitution", The Asia-Pacific Journal, August 31, 2015 Volume 13, Issue 36, Number 1.
  • "Risk and Consequences: The Changing Japanese Employment Paradigm", co-authored with Machiko Osawa in Anne Allison and Frank Baldwin (eds), Japan’s Possible Futures, NYU Press, 2015.
  • "Nationalism and the 2014 Election: The Abe Conundrum", in Pekkanen, Scheiner and Reed, ed., Japan Decides: The 2014 Election, Palgrave McMillan, 2015.
  • "Downsizing Fukushima" in Mark Mullins and Koichi Nakano, ed., Disasters and Social Crisis in Contemporary Japan: Political, Religious, and Cultural Responses, Palgrave McMillan 2015.
  • "Abe's Nuclear Renaissance: Energy Politics in Post-3.11", Japan Critical Asian Studies, vol 46, no 3, 2014, pp 461-484.
  • Kingston, J. Museums, Manga, Memorials and Korean-Japan History Wars, Asian Studies II (XVII) 2 (2014), 41-71.
  • "Precarious Work in Japan (with Machiko Osawa and Myoung Jun Kim)", American Behavioral Scientist. March 2013 vol. 57 no. 3 309-334.
  • Kingston, J. Contemporary Japan: History, Politics and Social Change Since the 1980s. (Wiley 2010, 2nd revised ed. 2012).
  • Kingston, J. (ed.) Contemporary Japanese Politics. 4 volumes. Brill, 2013.
  • Kingston, J. Japan's Nuclear Village. Asia-Pacific Journal vol 10:37, no. 1 (Sept. 10, 2012).
  • Kingston, J. Burma's Despair. Critical Asian Studies, vol. 40, no. 1 (March 2008), 3-43.
  • Kingston, J. Nanjing Massacre Memorial: Renovating War Memory in Nanjijng and Tokyo. Japan Focus (8/22/2008).
  • Kingston, J. Balancing justice and reconciliation in East Timor. Critical Asian Studies, vol. 38, no. 3 (Sept. 2006), 271-302.
  • Kingston, J. Kokka saisei [in Japanese]. Hayakawa Shobo, 2006.
  • Kingston, J. Japan's quiet transformation: Social change and civil society in the 21st century. RoutledgeCourzon, 2004.
  • Kingston, J. Japan in transformation 1952-2000. Longman, (revised 2nd edition 2011).

Education

1987
Ph.D. in history, Columbia University

1981
M.A. in international affairs, Columbia University, School of International Affairs

1979
B.S. in foreign service, Georgetown University, School of Foreign Service

Professional Associations

The editorial advisory boards of AsiaPacific Journal, Asian Studies and Critical Asian Studies.
Member of AAS, EAJS, AAJS.