Tokyo
東京

Become a Member
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About Tokyo
YPFP 東京とは

Founded in 2021, Tokyo is the newest YPFP branch and the first in Asia, reinforcing a commitment to truly global leadership. Providing a nexus of engagement for scholars, students, professionals, and thought leaders across sectors, Tokyo connects people from around the world with those living in and interested in Asia.

 

2021年に設立されたYPFP東京支部は、最も新しいYPFP支部であり、グローバルリーダーシップの強化に向けて開設されたアジア初の支部です。学者、学生、専門家、ソートリーダーなど、さまざまな分野の人々が集う場所であり、世界中の人々とアジアに住む人やアジアに関心のある人たちをつなげます。

Tokyo Offerings        私たちの活動

Engaging Events 

イベント

 International Research

 国際研究

Discussion Groups

ディスカッショングループ

Volunteer With Us
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Discussion Groups
ディスカッショングループ

Peer-led communities that offer members an opportunity to gain in depth knowledge of a particular region or subject.

特定の地域やテーマについての深い知識を得る機会を提供する、仲間同士のコミュニティ。

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International Research
国際研究

Project-based opportunities to build and refine skills, while sharing and contributing to research in your field of interest.

プロジェクトを基として、自身が興味のある分野に関する研究に取り組みそれを共有しながら、スキルを獲得し磨いていく機会。

YPFP Tokyo Upcoming Events
YPFP東京のこれからのイベント

Register

YPFP Tokyo's Past Events

YPFP東京の過去のイベント

Click Here to Watch All Recorded Events on YPFP Tokyo's YouTube Channel

Read the 2022 LCOY Japan Final Report  delivered to YOUNGO

Tokyo Team

YPFP-Tokyo is comprised of a diverse and accomplished team of volunteer staff who work together to manage the organization’s national and global operations, develop fruitful partnerships, and, via its base in metropolitan Tokyo, engage the robust international affairs community in Asia and the world.

東京チーム

YPFP東京は、多様で優秀なボランティアで構成されており、メンバーは共に協力してチームの国内およびグローバルな運営を管理し、実りあるパートナーシップを構築し、東京という大都市を拠点に、アジアや世界の重要な国際問題コミュニティに関与しています。


Lauren S. Power
Managing Director, YPFP Tokyo Branch

Managing Director, YPFP Tokyo Branch

Professor of Global Humanities, Temple University Japan

Researcher and Ph.D. Candidate, University of Tokyo

Lauren is an award-winning researcher, author, speaker, and migrant advocate. She is an Adjunct Professor of Global Humanities at Temple University Japan and a Ph.D. Candidate at the University of Tokyo with a focus on understanding the economic and social lives of highly skilled migrants. Lauren is the Founder and Managing Director of YPFP Tokyo Branch. Lauren is currently a contributing researcher to the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UN-OHCHR) and is the Co-founder of the University of Tokyo Violence Against Women Working Group (UT-VAW).

Lauren was the Founder and Country Leader for the Japan Migration Working Group of the United Nations Major Group for Children and Youth (UN-MGCY), leading comprehensive international research and publications on youth and migration and was selected as a civil society spokesperson for the United Nations Asia-Pacific Regional Review of the Global Compact for Migration in 2021. In 2020, Lauren was appointed Head Delegate of the American Delegation to the G20 Youth Summit (Y20) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and was selected for the Global Dialogue Fellowship. Lauren has subsequently served as a member of the C20 Working Groups on the 2030 Agenda and Education and Global Citizenship for the 2021 G20 Summit in Rome. Lauren previously worked as an Official for the OECD, an entrepreneur starting her own consultancy, and a member of the Editorial Boards of the Journal for Human Security Studies Special Edition and the Refugee Review.

Lauren Power
ローレン・パワー

Tokyo Managing Director

東京マネージングディレクター


Eriko Yamada
Communications Director

Communications Director, YPFP Tokyo Branch

Student, University of Tokyo

Eriko is an aspiring scholar in the field of education for minority and marginalized children. She is a half-Chinese and half-Japanese fourth-year undergraduate student at the University of Tokyo majoring in Japanese and East Asian cultural studies. Her undergraduate thesis looks at how state-based and non-state-based education shape and influence the educational opportunities and outcomes of ethnic minorities in Japan. Eriko is the Communications Director of YPFP Tokyo Branch.

Eriko was a founding member of the United Nations Major Group for Children and Youth (UN-MGCY) Global Compact for Migration (GCM) Japan Working Group and has co-authored the Japan Country Report on Youth Consultations for the UN-MGCY GCM National Reviews series in 2021. From 2020 to 2021, Eriko worked in collaboration with the New York Times as an editor, graphics designer and the Head of Translations for the UTokyo English student publication Komaba Times, advocating for students from multicultural backgrounds in Japanese universities. She is also involved in the translation of educational materials and the provision of English language education at the University of Tokyo.

Eriko Yamada
山田江理子（やまだえりこ）

Communications Director

コミュニケーションディレクター


Chikara Uchida
Programming Co-director

Programming Co-director, YPFP Tokyo Branch

Research Associate, Toyo University

Project Researcher, University of Tokyo

Chikara is a researcher and lecturer on the twentieth-century Japan, and book author of the books on World History and Global History. He is a Research Associate at the Center for Sustainable Development Studies, Toyo University and Project Researcher at the University of Tokyo. He is a Programming Co- director of YPFP Tokyo Branch. Since 2017, he has been a Judge in History Category at the Global Undergraduate Awards, which is an NPO in Ireland. He is working on the history writings in the twentieth-century Japan, with special focus on historians in the 1980s.

He received his Ph.D. in 2020, and his dissertation was a monograph about the social engagements in the 1980s by a social historian on the Middle Ages. Recently he also has a keen interest in the history narrative of modern scholars on forestry and ecology. Chikara was a member of the Japan Migration Working Group of the United Nations Major Group for Children and Youth (UN-MGCY). He is a type of researcher who actively engages with real issues such as migration and refugees, while focusing on historiography in his research activities.

Chikara Uchida
内田力（うちだちから）

Programming Director

プログラミングディレクター


Helix Tsz Yuen Lo
Membership Officer

Membership Officer, YPFP Tokyo Branch

Master’s student, Graduate School of Arts and Science, the University of Tokyo

Helix is a graduate student at the University of Tokyo in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Having been engaged in public affairs for years, with a major in political science and minor in criminology during undergraduate studies, his interests majorly lie in the fields of political behaviour, comparative politics, political philosophy and youth issues. In 2019, he was selected for an exchange with Meiji University of Japan, where he found his interests in Japan and decided to devote himself to Japanese society in the future.

Helix has worked for the City University of Hong Kong as a research and teaching assistant for around two years. He used to work as a district developer, debate coach and manager in various companies and organizations as well. These experiences have forged him to be a skillful, sophisticated and philosophical man, and will be contributive through the role as a Membership Officer at YPFP Tokyo Branch. At present, he is working on research in relation with political behaviour, and intends to expand his knowledge further on language and philosophy.

Helix Tsz Yuen Lo
羅梓源（ラヒリックスシゲン）

Membership Director

メンバーシップディレクター


Motoko Akiyama
Communications Officer

Communications Officer, YPFP Tokyo Branch

Motoko is a student at Toyo Eiwa Senior High School.

She has an interest in world history, politics, leadership, and international relations and hopes to pursue these fields in further studies.Her hobby is traveling and she loves to learn about different countries and cultures. 

At school, she is most involved in student council activities. As well as being a member of Toyo Eiwa Activities for Myanmar, she has been trying to raise funds to help people suffering from war in Ukraine.

She is also part of the Toyo Eiwa Blue Earth Project, where she is trying to spread awareness of the harms of marine plastic pollution.

Motoko Akiyama
秋山素子 (あきやま もとこ)

Communications Officer

コミュニケーションオフィサー

Nienke van Dijk
Communications Officer, YPFP Tokyo Branch

Communications Officer, YPFP Tokyo Branch

After graduating from Tilburg University (The Netherlands) with a Master of Arts in Corporate Communications and Digital Media, Nienke worked as a communications advisor in the CSR departments of a global insurance company and a consultancy firm. She moved to Tokyo to step out of her comfort zone, get to know a different culture and start a new work adventure.

While starting het first job Nienke developed a special interest and experience in sustainability and social responsibility. She specialized in community investment and coordinated corporate volunteering programs. Above all, writing and creating other forms of content is the thing she loves most. Creating trust and transparency through communication and making accessible content is what continuously motivates her.

Nienke van Dijk
ニエンカ・ヴァン・ダイク

Communications Officer

コミュニケーションオフィサー


Aiko Jane Kihara-Hunt
Communications Officer

Communications Officer, YPFP Tokyo Branch

Student, British School in Tokyo
 
Aiko Jane is a student at the British School in Tokyo. She likes art, especially digital art, and is interested in working in a multicultural environment. She is also interested in environmental issues such as climate change, ocean pollution, and animal rights / welfare.
 
Aiko has lived in many countries, such as Nepal, Uganda, Kenya, Italy, and now Japan. She is bilingual in English and Japanese, and is learning Spanish and French at school. 

Aiko Jane Kihara-Hunt
アイコ・ジェーン・キハラ・ハント

Communications Officer

コミュニケーションオフィサー

Yuna Otsuki
Communications Officer, YPFP Tokyo Branch

Communications Officer, YPFP Tokyo

 

Yuna is a student at Shibuya Kyoiku Gakuen Makuhari High School. She has interest in sustainability and climate change. Currently, she is involved in two research programs for high school students at Chiba University and University of Tokyo, where she is learning more about renewable energy. She hopes to learn more about this field in the future.

 
She also aspires to provide a better learning environment for young people. As the Vice President for the student council of DECA Japan, she is drafting a policy proposal to be sent to the Ministry of Education to improve school education for Japanese students. She is also a “child editor” for the handbook for Tokyo Basic Ordinance for Children, and a member of Teens Action Tokyo, a program in which her group is planning to propose ideas on digitalisation at schools.

Yuna Otsuki
大槻優奈 (おおつき ゆうな)

Communications Officer

コミュニケーションオフィサー


Akari Takahashi
Communications Officer

Communication Officer, YPFP Tokyo Branch
Bachelor of Liberal Arts, University of Tokyo

Akari is a past graduate of the University of Tokyo and a future Master of Social Work student at Columbia University. Her undergraduate research focused on factors that affect the ability of social movements to subvert their entanglements with oppressive structures. Having spent her childhood across several countries, including the U.S., China, and Spain, Akari’s interest lies in the impact of globalization on different socioeconomic and racialized groups around the world and the ways in which network effects of globalization can be utilized to minimize current disparities in the distribution of security and resources. From her studies at the University of Tokyo, she has become particularly devoted to tackling the global refugee and migration crisis, believing that it is the culminated, brutal symptom of the unsustainable form of globalization that is concurrent today, in which resources are distributed highly unequally throughout the world in a way that puts refugees and migrants at the greatest risk of death. She is currently taking a gap year at her grandmother’s house in Okayama to save up for her graduate studies.

Akari Takahashi
髙橋明李（たかはし あかり)

Communications Officer

コミュニケーションオフィサー


Marin Ekstrom
Programs Officer

Programs Officer, YPFP Tokyo Branch

Writing Instructor, Toyo University 
Research Assistant, Central Asia Watch Project 

Marin is currently a Programs Officer at the Tokyo branch of Young Professionals in Foreign Policy, as well as a Writing Instructor at Toyo University and a Research Assistant with the Central Asia Watch project. Marin has extensive experience in teaching English as a foreign language. She has taught in China, Russia, Finland, and Japan and has worked with a wide range of age and ability levels. She enjoys the procedural components of language education-- that is, presenting abstract grammatical and vocabulary concepts in a manner that is clear, concrete, and applicable to real life-- as well as the intercultural exchange aspect of teaching. Marin also has a strong background in international relations. She has a Master of Arts degree in International Relations from Central European University, where she wrote her thesis on Russia and Japan's territorial dispute over the Southern Kuril Islands through the frameworks of neoclassical realism, ontological security, and two-level game theory. Her primary research interests include Eurasian integration and language rights and education. She has explored these research interests through her current work with the Central Asia Watch Project, as well as her prior experience with the e-think tank The Eurasia Research and Analysis Institute and the non-governmental organization The Institute for Cultural Relations Policy Budapest. Her shorter articles have been published by such outlets as The Diplomat, Modern Diplomacy, the Oxus Society for Central Asian Affairs, the NYU Jordan Center for the Advanced Study of Russia's blog, and the Wilson Center-Kennan Institute's blog. She has also published academic articles in the Cultural Relations Quarterly Review and the ICRP Human Rights Issues Series (currently under review). Marin is looking forward to pursuing additional research projects and becoming more actively involved in foreign policy research community both in Tokyo and beyond. 


Marin Ekstrom
マリン・エクストロム

Programs Officer

プログラムオフィサー


Courtney Halverson
Programs Officer

Programs Officer, YPFP Tokyo Branch

Courtney is currently an Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) with the JET Programme located in Minakami, Gunma, Japan. She teaches English as a second language to first through sixth graders across three elementary schools in her town. Her impetus for pursuing the JET Programme was to return to Japan and continue to grow her fluency in Japanese, while gaining further international experience in hopes of working in diplomacy in the future. 

Courtney graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a Bachelors of Arts in Global Studies (with a focus in International Politics and regional concentration in Asia) and minors in Politics, Philosophy and Economics and Information Science. Her undergraduate thesis focused on a comparative study of post-conflict statebuilding projects in Japan (following World War II) and Bosnia-Herzegovina (following the Yugoslav Wars in the 1990s). Throughout this project, she became particularly interested in the concept of local ownership and the ethics of statebuilding or peacebuilding via external powers. While in college, Courtney interned for the Duke-UNC Rotary Peace Center, and was offered an internship with the US Agency for International Development, which was unfortunately canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. After graduation, Courtney interned for a Human Rights Think Tank, where she was able to contribute to numerous research reports centering human rights and assist in the planning and running of several civil society events focused on the UN. Courtney's current research interests broadly include political development and human rights. While, specifically, she has recently been interested in democratic backsliding, populism, regression on human rights protections in emerging 'illiberal' democracies, and the impact of globalization and history education on nationalism. All in all, Courtney is passionate about exploring solutions to better peoples' lives through democratic means and institutions. 

Courtney Halverson
コートニー　ハルバーソン

Programs Officer

プログラムオフィサー

Jay Makhijani
Programs Officer

Jay is a recent undergraduate focused on finance. He is an experienced professional with a demonstrated history of working in the non-profit organization management industry. Skilled in non-profit organizations, fundraising, research and development (R&D), business development, and business strategy, he has worked in various capacities. Currently, Jay is  part of the Global Policy, Diplomacy, and Sustainability (GPODS) Fellowship and part of the BIED society as a fellow for the Indo-Pacific region.

Jay Makhijani
ジェイ・マキジャニ

Programs Officer

プログラムオフィサー


Byron Muhlenberg
Programs Officer

Programming Officer, YPFP Tokyo Branch

Director of Business Operations, United States Air Force

Byron is an active-duty officer currently assigned as the Director of Business Operations to the 35th Contracting Squadron at Misawa Air Base, Japan. He oversees 45 personnel providing acquisition support to both joint and bilateral Army, Navy, and Air Force operations throughout Northern Japan and the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command. He currently holds his unlimited Contracting Officer warrant which ensures the execution of the 35th Fighter Wing's largest acquisitions. His previous assignments include the Defense Contract Management Agency, serving as the Space Systems Administrative Contracting Officer, and Yokota Air Base, Japan. He is a member of the Air Force's Language Enabled Airman Program with a target language of Japanese. He has used his language and cultural expertise in support of various bilateral and mutlilateral excercises and taskings including COPE NORTH, NORTHERN VIPER, and the Bilateral Defense Okinawa Working Group. 

Byron recieved his commission in 2014 as a distinguished graduate from the United States Air Force Academy and earned his B.S. in Biology and a minor in Japanese. He received his Master of Business Administration from the University of Southern California in 2021. He is a member of the Pacific Forum's Young Leaders Program. He currently focuses his efforts on security issues such as alliance cooperation, logistical support, and international civil-military relations. 

Byron Muhlenburg
バイロン・ミューレンバーグ

Programs Officer

プログラムオフィサー


Tristan Norman
Programs Officer

Tristan Norman is a Tomodachi alumnus and 2020 graduate from Hendrix College, a small liberal arts school in Arkansas, with an interdisciplinary major in Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation, with a thesis focused on climate adaptation, social innovation, and green growth in Japan and China. In 2018, he was a Tomodachi Kakehashi Inouye Scholar to Japan and studied at United International College, a Liberal Arts College near Hong Kong. Since graduating university in 2020, he participated in the UNITAR United Nations Young Leaders Program, based in Geneva, and interned at the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs at the UNHQ in New York, working on issues related to the impact of COVID-19, climate change, and digital and frontier technologies on young people.

 

At UNDESA, he contributed to the 2021 World Youth Report, published a UN Policy brief on digital public goods and youth inequality, and assisted in designing a Science, Technology, and Innovation strategy for UNDESA. Additionally, in 2022, he served as a US Youth delegate for the US-UN Youth Consultation for the United Nations Climate Strategy. Tristan is particularly interested in emerging global trends and how we can utilize multi-sectoral and multi stakeholder partnerships to design a more sustainable, equitable, and resilient future. Currently, Tristan is an Assistant Language Teacher with the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program in Kami-Cho in Northern Hyōgo prefecture and wants to pursue a career in international affairs focused on Asia-Pacific Studies.

Tristan Norman
トリスタン・ノーマン

Programs Officer

プログラムオフィサー


Patrick Saunders
Programs Officer

Programs Officer, YPFP Tokyo Branch

Patrick is a graduate of both a Bachelor of Commerce in International Business and a Master of International Security from the University of Adelaide, graduating in 2019 and 2021 respectively. Taking time between study in his home city he has also been a student of the Siberian Federal University in the city of Krasnoyarsk, Russia where he developed both language skills and experience on culture and security within the post-soviet space. Academically, Patrick has often found ways to bind his experiences together and pursued a multidisciplinary approach in his exploration of both traditional and non-traditional security threats. Themes such as cyber security, resource scarcity and the privatization of conflict have been regular throughout his research, giving insight into topics as diverse as the future of civil unrest in the Middle East and the re-emergence of mercenary-like organizations in the modern battlespace.

A humanitarian at heart, his passion for altruistic action and the sharing of cultures has compelled him to take on several volunteer roles around his local area, such as with Adult Multicultural Education Services (AMES) Australia where he assists in providing settlement support for newly arrived refugees. His cumulative experience has provided him a unique perspective and an appreciation of Diplomacy and Foreign Affairs as more than simply trade deals and summits but also as the expression of culture and person-to-person connections, A perspective enriched by his role as a Programs Officer with YPFP.

Patrick Saunders
パトリック・ソーンダース

Programs Officer

プログラムオフィサー


Rachel Morgan
Membership Officer

Membership Officer, YPFP Tokyo Branch

Rachel Morgan graduated in August 2022 from the Seoul National University Graduate School of International Studies, where she majored in International Cooperation.  While pursuing her Master of Science in International Studies, she specialized in East Asian security strategy and transnational security issues. She also developed her thesis investigating the historical and regional trends affecting what she characterized as a defense-facing trajectory shift in South Korean space policy. In 2021, Rachel served as a Junior Scholar Fellow at the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where she developed research on South Korea’s prospective roles and responses to the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue. She also served as a member of the 17th Global Asia Leadership Forum, where she led sessions on US-China conflict and cooperation, digital diplomacy, and participatory democracy in Southeast Asia. 

Prior to her move to South Korea in 2020, Rachel pursued a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Asian Studies at Hendrix College, graduating in 2019.  In 2017, Rachel attended a professor-led field research trip to Japan and South Korea, where she engaged with living and nonliving artifacts of war and peace memory in East Asia.  Following this research trip, Rachel spent one year in Seoul studying on exchange at Korea University.  In 2018 she served as an International Student Ambassador to the Global Peace Youth in Seoul, where she solidified her interest in developing a career in the foreign policy and security space.

Rachel’s current areas of interest are East Asian security issues, space and cybersecurity policy, and forward-facing approaches to transnational security threats.

Rachel Morgan
レイチェル・モーガン

Membership Officer

メンバーシップオフィサー

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