About

Biography

Kiyoteru Tsutsui is the Henri H. and Tomoye Takahashi Professor and Senior Fellow in Japanese Studies at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC), the director of APARC and of the Japan Program at APARC, co-director of the Southeast Asia Program at APARC, executive director of the Inter-University Center for Japanese Language Studies, co-director of the Center for Human Rights and International Justice, senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, and professor of sociology, all at Stanford University. Prior to his appointment at Stanford, Tsutsui was professor of sociology, director of the Center for Japanese Studies, and director of the Donia Human Rights Center at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Tsutsui’s research interests lie in political/comparative sociology, social movements, globalization, human rights, and Japanese society. More specifically, he has conducted (1) cross-national quantitative analyses on how human rights ideas and instruments have expanded globally and impacted local politics and (2) qualitative case studies of the impact of global human rights on Japanese politics. His current projects examine (a) changing conceptions of nationhood and minority rights in national constitutions and in practice, (b) populism and the future of democracy, (c) experimental surveys on public understanding about human rights, (d) campus policies and practices around human rights, (e) global expansion of corporate social responsibility and its impact on corporate behavior, and (f) Japan’s public diplomacy and perceptions about Japan in the world.

His research on the globalization of human rights and its impact on local politics has appeared in American Sociological Review, American Journal of Sociology, American Political Science Review, Social Forces, Social Problems, Journal of Peace Research, Journal of Conflict Resolution, and other social science journals. His book publications include Rights Make Might: Global Human Rights and Minority Social Movements in Japan (Oxford University Press 2018), and two co-edited volumes Corporate Social Responsibility in a Globalizing World (with Alwyn Lim, Cambridge University Press 2015), The Courteous Power: Japan and Southeast Asia in the Indo-Pacific Era (with John Ciorciari, University of Michigan Press 2021), and Human Rights and the State: the Power of the Ideal and the Reality of International Politics (人権と国家：理念の力と国際政治の現実, Iwanami Shoten 2022), which received the 43rd Ishibashi Tanzan Book Award and the 44th Suntory Prize for Social Sciences and Humanities.

He has been a recipient of National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, National Science Foundation grants, the SSRC/CGP Abe Fellowship, Stanford Japan Studies Postdoctoral Fellowship, and other grants as well as awards from American Sociological Association sections on Global and Transnational Sociology (2010, 2013, 2019), Human Rights (2017, 2019), Asia and Asian America (2018, 2019), Collective Behavior and Social Movements (2018), and Political Sociology (2019).

Tsutsui received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Kyoto University and earned an additional master’s degree and Ph.D. from Stanford’s Sociology department in 2002.

Current Positions

• Henri H. and Tomoye Takahashi Professor in Japanese Studies, Stanford University
• Director, Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC), Stanford University
• Director, Japan Program at APARC, Stanford University
• Co-Director, Southeast Asia Program at APARC, Stanford University
• Executive Director, Inter-University Center for Japanese Language Studies, Stanford University
• Co-Director, Center for Human Rights and International Justice, Stanford University
• Senior Fellow, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University
• Professor, Department of Sociology, Stanford University
• Distinguished Fellow, Tokyo Foundation for Policy Research

Research Interests

• Global and transnational sociology
• Political and comparative sociology
• Human rights
• Social movements
• Japanese society and politics
• Corporate social responsibility