Welcoming New Associates: Jiajia Zhou and Ryo Kiridori

The Centre for the Study of Global Japan is delighted to welcome two Ph.D. students, Jiajia Zhou and Ryo Kiridori, as centre associates. Associates enrich our Centre by contributing insights based on their research about contemporary Japan, actively participating in our programming and activities, and engaging with other centre affiliates.

Jiajia Zhou is a PhD candidate in the Department of Political Science at the University of Toronto. Zhou’s research focuses on clarifying populist threats to democracies through comparative perspectives. Her research is supported by the Japan Foundation, the Ryoichi Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship Fund (SYLFF) Association, and the Tan Kah Kee Foundation. She holds an M.A in Regional Studies: East Asia from Columbia University and a B.A. (Hons) in Japanese Studies and Economics from the National University of Singapore. She is currently conducting field work in Japan with an affiliation at the University of Tokyo.

Ryo Kiridori is a PhD student at the Department of Political Science at the University of Toronto, with expertise on international relations and comparative politics. Since 2016, Kiridori has also been a research fellow at the National Institute for Defense Studies, a Tokyo-based think tank affiliated with Japan’s Ministry of Defense. Kiridori’s research focuses on foreign policy analysis and security studies with a specific examination of the evolution of Japanese defense policy over time. Ryo holds a BA in political science from the University of New Brunswick, where he was awarded the Richard B. Hatfield Prize in Political Science, and an MSc in international relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science.