Professor (PhD in Agricultural Economics, Hokkaido University)

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Fields of Research: International Political Economy of Agriculture and Food, Global Food Governance, Agri-food Politics and Sociology, Rural Development

Academic Backgrounds: I received a Master’s Degree in Economic Policy (1993) at Kyoto University. I withdrew from the doctoral programme as I got a position as Assistant Professor at the Graduate School of Agriculture, Hokkaido University (1995-2005), where I received a Doctoral Degree in Agricultural Economics (2001) by submitting a dissertation that was then published as a book (2002). During that period, I did my visiting research at Wageningen University (Social Sciences, 2002–2004). After returning to Kyoto University as Associate Professor in 2005 and being promoted to Professor in 2010, I had another chance to do my visiting research at VU University Amsterdam (Political Science, 2012). I currently serve as the Director of the Asian Platform for Global Sustainability & Transcultural Studies (Social Sciences and Humanities Unit of Top Global Courses) and the Director of this international graduate programme East Asia Sustainable Economic Development Studies.

Research Activities: My research interests include global governance of food security, industrialisation of agricultural biotechnology, social responsibility and regulation of multinational agribusiness corporations, and international comparative study of agrarian and rural development. Especially and currently, I’m conducting research projects on: how and in what way corporate actors appropriate food security and sustainable development discourses;and politics in/behind the process of building sustainable agri-food systems, especially the development of local agri-food policy governance and the role of food citizens across European cities and if and how Asian countries can learn from European experiences to address problems with the current unsustainable, unhealthy and unjust agri-food system. My disciplinary categories, therefore, can be well described as Social Sciences (rather than Agricultural Economics), including International Political Economy of Agriculture and Food; Sociology of Agriculture and Food; Sociology of Science and Technology; Geography of Agriculture and Food; Critical Theory; Gramscian Theory, etc. My international comparative research covers mainly Japan and European countries (the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, and Norway), but I also have close research connections with scholars and universities in New Zealand, China, Taiwan, South Korea, Thailand, the Philippines, and the United States, among others.

Courses in Charge: International Political Economy of Agriculture; International Agribusiness Studies; Comparative Development Studies; Inclusive Rural Development; Critical Consumption Studies; On-site Research Training; Field Research in East Asia; Field Research in Europe

Skills and Qualities Required for Prospective Students: I look forward to applications from those who have studied, or at least are interested in studying, various disciplines of social sciences, such as sociology, geography, and political science, other than economics, and/or interdisciplinary approaches bridging social sciences and natural/technical sciences related to agriculture and food. The students in my group are strongly encouraged to conduct field research (e.g. interviews and participatory observation) as well as in-depth qualitative research (e.g. discourse analysis of policy, corporate and media documents). This is because these methods are requisite to understanding power relations and structural dynamics in the economic and political processes with social and environmental consequences. The students in my group will have opportunities to participate in a series of joint activities with Rural Sociology Group of Wageningen University, the Netherlands.

Examples of Thesis Subjects:

Doctoral Dissertations

• Unveiling the Hidden Dimensions of Poverty in the Philippines Banana Industry (ongoing)
• Transitions in Caribbean Agri-Food Systems: An Investigation into the Disruptive Capabilities of Alternatives in the Jamaican Agri-Food System (ongoing)
• Community Food Initiatives as Real Utopias Projects in Indonesian Cities: A Critical Reparative Study on Urban Citizens’ Roles Towards Transformative Food Systems (ongoing)
• Food Citizenship Toward Food Systems Transformations: Practices in Urban Areas from Governance Lens (ongoing)
• The Activation of Regional Innovation Systems to Secure New and Impactful Local Specialisations: The Development of the Wine Industry in Japan (ongoing)
• The Potential of Bottom-up Social Innovation for Rural Development: Three Cases in Japan (2024)
• Stealth Privatization: Power Dynamics behind Sustainable Fisheries Governance (2023)
• Uncovering the On-the-ground Consequences of Voluntary Sustainability Standards: Enabled and Disabled Power in the RSPO Legitimization Process in Indonesia (ongoing)
• The Politics of Halal Standards in Indonesia: Backlighting Corporate Penetration in the Ruling (ongoing)
• Alternative Agri-Food Networks and Rural Development: The Case of China in the Context of Sannong (2019)
• Political Economy of Corporate Packaged Food: A Study of Exchange and Consumption in Manila Slums (2019)
• Transformation of Food under the Capitalist Development: A History of the Formation of Vegetable Oil Complex in Japan (2018)

Master Theses

• Challenges and Limitations Posed by Sustainability Standards in the Cocoa Sector in the Dominican Republic (ongoing)
• A Meatless Route Towards Food Sustainability: The Visionary Promises of Alternative Proteins in Japan (ongoing)
• Post-Pandemic Food Discourses in the Philippines: Social Enterprises and the Corporate-Environmental Food Regime (2024)
• Unsustainable Fishing and Its Impacts on Women in Small-Scale Fisheries in Thailand (2024)
• Challenges and Potentials of Community-Supported Agriculture in Hungary: An Analysis of Box Scheme Initiatives During the Pandemic (2023)
• Discourse and Realities of Climate Smart Agriculture: A Case Study in Guatemala (2022)
• The Sustainable Transformation of a Specialty Coffee Supply Chain in Jamaica: An investigation into the drivers and inhibitors of the transition (2022)
• Quitting the Race to the Bottom? Small Farmer Empowerment in Alternative Banana Trade in the Philippines (2021)
• Chinese Peasants’ Struggles to Engage in Alternative Food Networks: A Sustainable Livelihood Perspective (2020)
• Power Dynamics in Small-Scale Fisheries Governance and Its Impacts on the Socio-Ecological Knowledge Structure (2020)
• The Political Economy of Golden Rice in the Philippines: Deconstructing the Stakeholder’s Narratives (2019)
• Care Farming and Rural Social Welfare: Experiences from Japan and the Netherlands (2019)
• Political Economy of Halal Food Certification and Labelling in Indonesia (2016)
• Reshaping Thailand’s Seed Market: A Discussion of the MNC-dominated Structure and the Exercise of Agency among Conflicting Stakeholders (2014)