The Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI) at Stanford University is pleased to announce that Kiyoteru Tsutsui will serve as the director of the institute’s Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC), effective September 1, 2025.

Tsutsui is the Henri H. and Tomoye Takahashi Professor and Senior Fellow in Japanese Studies at APARC, where he also serves as deputy director of the center, the director of the Japan Program, and co-director of the Southeast Asia Program. Tsutsui is also a senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute, executive director of the Inter-University Center for Japanese Language Studies, co-director of the Center for Human Rights and International Justice, and a professor of sociology. 

The current director of APARC is Gi-Wook Shin, the William J. Perry Professor of Contemporary Korea, and William J. Perry Senior Fellow at FSI. He has served in this role since 2005.

“Serving as APARC director over the past twenty years has been a profound honor and privilege,” said Professor Shin. “I am deeply grateful for the unwavering trust, encouragement, and collaboration I received throughout this journey. I have every confidence that Kiyo will be an outstanding leader, and I hope he is met with the same generous support so kindly given to me."

As the new director of APARC, Tsutsui aims to build on Shin’s two decades of directorship developing the center as one of the premier institutions in the world for research and public engagement on issues related to the Asia-Pacific region.

“I’m deeply honored to be named the next director of this renowned institution that I used to admire and participate in as a graduate student," said Professor Tsutsui. "Gi-Wook leaves such giant shoes to fill, but I will do my best to live up to the core missions of APARC, sustain its forty-plus-year tradition of excellence, and innovate where I can.”

Among his many achievements since joining APARC in 2020, Tsutsui has produced many scholarly publications such as the 2022 book Human Rights and the State: The Power of Ideas and the Reality of International Politics, which received recognitions such as the 44th Suntory Prize for Social Sciences and Humanities, the 43rd Ishibashi Tanzan Award, and the Shinso Taisho, and articles in social science journals such as American Political Science Review and Political Research Quarterly. He has also launched the Stanford Japan Barometer, a periodic public opinion survey on current political and social issues such as national security and gender equality. These scholarly works formed the foundation for his policy engagement work in publishing op-eds in American and Japanese media and briefing influential policy makers and business leaders.

Tsutsui has infused new energy into programming and fundraising at APARC, having raised a Japan Chair endowment for faculty and Japan Program activities in March 2022, as well as other grants and contributions. He also spearheaded the efforts to host a summit event with Japan’s Prime Minister Kishida and South Korea’s President Yoon in November 2023 in addition to many other prominent speakers and visitors from Japan and elsewhere. 

Tsutsui’s research interests include political and comparative sociology, social movements, globalization, human rights, and Japanese society. His previous books include Rights Make Might: Global Human Rights and Minority Social Movements in Japan (Oxford University Press 2018), which received three awards from the American Sociological Association, and two co-edited volumes Corporate Social Responsibility in a Globalizing World (with Alwyn Lim, Cambridge University Press 2015) and The Courteous Power: Japan and Southeast Asia in the Indo-Pacific Era (with John Ciorciari, University of Michigan Press, 2021).

He holds a bachelor’s and master’s in sociology from Kyoto University, as well as an additional master’s and PhD in sociology from Stanford University.

“Kiyoteru has been an outstanding deputy director of the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, and I’m thrilled to see him take on this new leadership role,” said FSI Director Michael McFaul. “His scholarship, vision, and deep commitment to international collaboration make him exceptionally well-suited to guide the center into its next chapter.”