Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) is the largest funding agency for academic research in Japan. Fellowships are offered for masters' and Ph.D. students, post-doctorate scholars, researchers, and faculty members in all research fields. If you are interested in conducting your research in Japan, please join us for a lively in-person information session to find out more.
Application Link for Short-term (PE) and Standard Program:
For questions regarding the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science and JSPS fellowship opportunities, contact (510) 665-1890 or sfo-info@overseas.jsps.go.jp
In this roundtable, Yuko Murase, a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC) and a journalist at The Mainichi, one of Japan’s leading national newspapers, will share insights from more than 15 years of reporting on education in Japan.
Her reporting has covered issues such as school nonattendance (futoko), bullying, school consolidation in depopulating regions, and the growing demand for diverse educational options. In recent years, the number of children classified as futoko has reached record highs in Japan. At the same time, alternative “free schools” have drawn increasing attention, raising important questions about compulsory education, equity, and parental choice.
Murase will introduce these debates and reflect on how definitions of school nonattendance differ between Japan and the United States. The conversation will also touch on broader challenges facing journalism in Japan, including the impact of digital media on local reporting and public discourse.
Katherine (Kemy) Monahan, Visiting Scholar at APARC and U.S. diplomat, will join the discussion, offering comparative and policy perspectives.
Rather than a formal lecture, the session is designed as an open conversation, inviting participants to share their perspectives and reflect on how similar issues are addressed in different contexts.
Refreshments will be served on a first-come, first-served basis.
Speaker
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Yuko Murase is a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC) for the fall and winter quarters of the 2025–2026 academic year. She is a journalist with more than 15 years of experience at The Mainichi Shimbun, one of Japan’s leading national newspapers, which also operates an English-language news site. Murase received the Fulbright Scholar Award in Journalism in 2025, becoming the only Japanese journalist selected that year.
Under the Fulbright program, Murase conducts comparative research at APARC on educational systems and practices in the United States and Japan. Drawing on her reporting on education in Japan, including “Preference for ‘Free Schools’ over Compulsory Education Stirs Controversy in Japan,” she examines diverse educational models in the United States — such as charter schools, homeschooling, and innovative learning initiatives in Silicon Valley — and their implications for expanding educational opportunities in Japan. Her work also aims to contribute to ongoing conversations about education in both countries.
Murase has written extensively in both English and Japanese, with a focus on education, social issues, and culture. Her reporting includes school nonattendance (futoko), bullying, school consolidation in depopulating regions, and the growing demand for more educational options in Japan. She was among the journalists who reported on the case of a 13-year-old student who died by suicide in Shiga Prefecture, which drew national attention and led to the enactment of Japan’s Anti-Bullying Act (2013). Her investigative series on harassment within a fire department in Shiga Prefecture during and after the COVID-19 pandemic received the 19th Hikita Keiichiro Award (2025) from the Japan Federation of Newspaper Workers’ Unions, which honors journalism that protects human rights and promotes trust in the press.
Having spent many years reporting in Shiga Prefecture near Kyoto, Murase developed a deep appreciation for local journalism and a strong interest in its future in the digital age. Her work reflects a belief that investigating local issues can yield lessons of global relevance.
Murase has also covered major international events, including the historic visit of President Barack Obama to Hiroshima, and interviewed filmmaker Oliver Stone during his first visit to Hiroshima. She has reported on global perspectives on the legacy of the atomic bombings and nuclear weapons.
Her interest in education has been shaped by studying in several countries. After graduating from high school in Australia, she earned a BA in International Relations from Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto. While there, she studied journalism at Rutgers University in the United States and sociology at the University of the Philippines as an exchange student. She was selected for the Japanese University Student Delegation to Korea by the Japan–Korea Cultural Foundation (2004).
Moderator
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Katherine (Kemy) Monahan joins the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC) as a visiting scholar, Japan Program Fellow, for the 2025-2026 academic year. Ms. Monahan has completed 16 assignments on four continents in her 30 years as a Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. Department of State. She recently returned from Tokyo, where she was Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Japan, following roles as Charge d’affaires for Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu, and Deputy Chief of Mission to New Zealand, Samoa, Cook Islands, and Niue. She was Director for East Asia at the National Security Council from 2022 to 2023. Previously, she worked for the U.S. Department of Treasury in Tokyo, as Economic, Trade and Labor Counselor in Mexico City, Privatization lead in Warsaw after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Advisor to the World Bank, and Deputy Executive Director of the Secretary of State’s Global Health Initiative, among other roles. As lead of UNICEF’s International Financial Institutions office, Ms. Monahan negotiated over $1 billion in funding for children. A member of the Bar in California and DC, Ms. Monahan began as an attorney in Los Angeles.
Building Authority from Within: Outsider Leaders and Opportunity Reallocation in China’s Local Bureaucracy
Speaker: Yuze Sui, PhD candidate in Sociology, Stanford University
About the Workshops
Our Young Researcher Workshops offer emerging China scholars an opportunity to engage directly with interdisciplinary faculty and peers from across campus to discuss and receive feedback on their research. Each workshop features one or several PhD students presenting their latest empirical findings on issues related to China’s economy. Past topics have included college major selection as an obstacle to socioeconomic mobility, the effect of a cooling-off period on marriage outcomes, and factors contributing to government corruption. Faculty and senior scholars provide comments and feedback for improvement. This event series helps to build and strengthen Stanford’s community of young researchers working on China.
Workshops are held on select Fridays from 12 - 1 pm.Lunchwill be provided!
Visit the Young Researcher Workshops webpage for more information on the content and format of the series and to learn how to sign up to present.
Affordable Innovation: How China Balances Affordable Medicines and Biopharma Upgrading
Speaker: Victoria Liu, PhD candidate in Political Science, Stanford University
About the Workshops
Our Young Researcher Workshops offer emerging China scholars an opportunity to engage directly with interdisciplinary faculty and peers from across campus to discuss and receive feedback on their research. Each workshop features one or several PhD students presenting their latest empirical findings on issues related to China’s economy. Past topics have included college major selection as an obstacle to socioeconomic mobility, the effect of a cooling-off period on marriage outcomes, and factors contributing to government corruption. Faculty and senior scholars provide comments and feedback for improvement. This event series helps to build and strengthen Stanford’s community of young researchers working on China.
Workshops are held on select Fridays from 12 - 1 pm.Lunchwill be provided!
Visit the Young Researcher Workshops webpage for more information on the content and format of the series and to learn how to sign up to present.
Health and Welfare Effects of World's Largest Artificial Forests
Speaker: Yuanxiaoyue Yang, Visiting PhD candidate, Stanford Center on China’s Economy and Institutions
Air pollution carried by the wind poses serious threats to public health in areas located downwind of pollution sources. In response, governments and organizations have adopted geoengineering strategies such as artificial afforestation to mitigate these adverse effects. Combining atmospheric dispersion modeling, quasi-experimental and structural approaches, this study evaluates the health benefits of the Three-North Shelterbelt Project (TNS) - the world's largest government-funded afforestation initiative - which aims at restoring 356,123 km^2 of forests, equivalent to the area of Germany, across Northern China from 1978 to 2050. We compile a comprehensive dataset from multiple sources, including satellite-based land use, vegetation indices, and air pollution, and administrative records of mortality and dust storm occurrences. Initial results suggest that a one km^2 increase in vegetated cover reduces PM2.5 concentrations by 0.03 μg/m^3 and yields $728,073 of health benefits.
About the Workshops
Our Young Researcher Workshops offer emerging China scholars an opportunity to engage directly with interdisciplinary faculty and peers from across campus to discuss and receive feedback on their research. Each workshop features one or several PhD students presenting their latest empirical findings on issues related to China’s economy. Past topics have included college major selection as an obstacle to socioeconomic mobility, the effect of a cooling-off period on marriage outcomes, and factors contributing to government corruption. Faculty and senior scholars provide comments and feedback for improvement. This event series helps to build and strengthen Stanford’s community of young researchers working on China.
Workshops are held on select Fridays from 12 - 1 pm.Lunchwill be provided!
Visit the Young Researcher Workshops webpage for more information on the content and format of the series and to learn how to sign up to present.
Acceptability and Feasibility of a Mindfulness Course for College Students in China
Speaker: Cody Abbey, PhD Candidate in Graduate School of Education, Stanford University
The college years are a crucial developmental stage during which mental conditions often emerge, including anxiety disorders and depression. Thus, it is crucial that college students have access to resources that help them develop skills for adapting to stressors and flourishing in their new environments. Unfortunately, in settings such as China, hard-to-access mental health services and a paucity of wellness courses often prevent students from receiving the support that they need. This study explores the lived experiences of undergraduates at two universities in China in a mindfulness-based program adapted for the local college student context. Specifically, this research explores three areas related to participants’ experiences: (1) how students believed their participation in the program affected their everyday life and well-being; (2) any factors that students perceived as affecting their participation; (3) recommendations for future iterations of the program. Using qualitative data from semi-structured interviews conducted with 18 of the college student participants, an applied thematic analysis was administered. This study also triangulates this data with open-ended responses from all 41 students who took the endline survey. Preliminary analyses indicate that students experienced positive psychosocial benefits from participating in the program. While they found support from the instructors and classmates facilitated their participation, time-and space-related barriers were hindrances. Recommendations include daily check-ins and reminders to practice, increasing class time dedicated to small-group discussion, and more flexible “home practice” requirements.
About the Workshops
Our Young Researcher Workshops offer emerging China scholars an opportunity to engage directly with interdisciplinary faculty and peers from across campus to discuss and receive feedback on their research. Each workshop features one or several PhD students presenting their latest empirical findings on issues related to China’s economy. Past topics have included college major selection as an obstacle to socioeconomic mobility, the effect of a cooling-off period on marriage outcomes, and factors contributing to government corruption. Faculty and senior scholars provide comments and feedback for improvement. This event series helps to build and strengthen Stanford’s community of young researchers working on China.
Workshops are held on select Fridays from 12 - 1 pm.Lunchwill be provided!
Visit the Young Researcher Workshops webpage for more information on the content and format of the series and to learn how to sign up to present.
Supply Chain Structure and the Rise of China's Electric Vehicle Industry
Speaker: Weiting Miao, Postdoctoral Scholar, Environmental Social Sciences, Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability
China has emerged as the global leader in electric vehicles (EVs), with a substantial price advantage relative to other major economies. This research studies how the density and geographic proximity of the supply chain contribute to this advantage. Using transaction-level buyer–seller data from the Chinese auto industry, we show that supplier proximity increases matching probability and that greater input market thickness lowers input prices. Exploiting policy exposure as an instrument, we further document that shorter buyer–supplier distance reduces prices while improving quality. Motivated by these findings, we develop and estimate a structural model that integrates upstream matching and pricing with downstream competition under heterogeneous consumer demand. The model quantifies how alternative market structures affect equilibrium outcomes. When we adjust China’s supply chain and product structure to match the 2018 US market, EV parts costs increase by about 60%, final vehicle prices rise by roughly 50%, and sales decline by 57%.
About the Workshops
Our Young Researcher Workshops offer emerging China scholars an opportunity to engage directly with interdisciplinary faculty and peers from across campus to discuss and receive feedback on their research. Each workshop features one or several PhD students presenting their latest empirical findings on issues related to China’s economy. Past topics have included college major selection as an obstacle to socioeconomic mobility, the effect of a cooling-off period on marriage outcomes, and factors contributing to government corruption. Faculty and senior scholars provide comments and feedback for improvement. This event series helps to build and strengthen Stanford’s community of young researchers working on China.
Workshops are held on select Fridays from 12 - 1 pm.Lunchwill be provided!
Visit the Young Researcher Workshops webpage for more information on the content and format of the series and to learn how to sign up to present.
Patients' Value of Physician Continuity: Evidence from China
Speaker: Yuli Xu, Postdoctoral Fellow, APARC Asia Health Policy Program, Stanford University
Continuity of medical care is widely observed, but it is often difficult to disentangle patients’ intrinsic preferences from system-imposed switching costs. Our research exploits the Chinese healthcare setting, where patients can freely choose physicians at each visit and flexibly switch across hospitals and departments, to isolate patients’ value of physician continuity. Estimating a discrete choice model, we show that patients strongly prefer to see the same physician despite minimal institutional barriers to switching, indicating an intrinsic preference for continuity. We then examine how physicians’ temporary leave affects patient behavior using a stacked difference-in-differences design. A physician’s absence leads to significant reductions in patient visits, both within the physician’s department and across other departments in the same hospital, with no substitution toward other hospitals and no detectable effects on health outcomes. Patients return to their original physicians once they resume practice. Moreover, patients with more severe conditions incur higher spending when forced to see a new physician. Overall, our findings demonstrate that patients place substantial intrinsic value on physician continuity, even in a healthcare system with highly flexible provider choice.
About the Workshops
Our Young Researcher Workshops offer emerging China scholars an opportunity to engage directly with interdisciplinary faculty and peers from across campus to discuss and receive feedback on their research. Each workshop features one or several PhD students presenting their latest empirical findings on issues related to China’s economy. Past topics have included college major selection as an obstacle to socioeconomic mobility, the effect of a cooling-off period on marriage outcomes, and factors contributing to government corruption. Faculty and senior scholars provide comments and feedback for improvement. This event series helps to build and strengthen Stanford’s community of young researchers working on China.
Workshops are held on select Fridays from 12 - 1 pm.Lunchwill be provided!
Visit the Young Researcher Workshops webpage for more information on the content and format of the series and to learn how to sign up to present.
Institutional Barriers and Venture Finance Under Export Controls: Evidence from China’s High-Tech Sectors
Speaker: Yikai Cao, PhD Candidate in Management Science and Engineering, Stanford University
Export control measures have emerged as a critical institutional shock reshaping global political and economic dynamics. While prior studies have focused on how institutions shape entrepreneurial behavior and firm-level responses, our study adopts an institutional theory lens to examine the impact of export controls and industrial policy on venture capital (VC) investment decisions. Integrating firm-level financing data with policy analysis, we find that following export controls, domestic VC funding increases significantly and concentrates in key technological fields. To isolate the causal effects of these regulatory changes, we employ a difference-in-differences approach. Our findings contribute to institutional theory by demonstrating how regulatory shocks reshape investor risk-return assessments and provide valuable insights for policymakers and investors navigating geopolitical tensions.
About the Workshops
Our Young Researcher Workshops offer emerging China scholars an opportunity to engage directly with interdisciplinary faculty and peers from across campus to discuss and receive feedback on their research. Each workshop features one or several PhD students presenting their latest empirical findings on issues related to China’s economy. Past topics have included college major selection as an obstacle to socioeconomic mobility, the effect of a cooling-off period on marriage outcomes, and factors contributing to government corruption. Faculty and senior scholars provide comments and feedback for improvement. This event series helps to build and strengthen Stanford’s community of young researchers working on China.
Workshops are held on select Fridays from 12 - 1 pm.Lunchwill be provided!
Visit the Young Researcher Workshops webpage for more information on the content and format of the series and to learn how to sign up to present.
