I am a PhD candidate in the Department of Sociology at University of California, Los Angeles. I specialize in labor migration in East Asia. I am interested in the design, reform, and implementation of labor migration programs, and migrant workers’ transnational experiences. My dissertation examines the liberal reform of Japan’s labor migration schemes and its implementation. The schemes consist of a de facto guest worker program, the Technical Intern Training Program (TITP), and the newly liberalized program called the Specified Skilled Worker (SSW). I have conducted a range of research projects: Chinese construction workers’ experiences under the TITP (published in Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 2023), Southeast Asian workers’ experiences in the agriculture and food processing industries under the SSW scheme (under review of International Migration Review), and the criminalization of female migrant workers who have to hide their pregnancies and go through isolated childbirth (to be submitted to Social & Legal Studies). My research has been generously funded by several institutes, including the Fulbright-Hays Program.

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I am currently working on two research projects: one focuses on the roles of humanitarian actors (in particular, labor unions) in resolving labor disputes and alleviating migrant workers’ precarities; the other examines female migrant workers’ reproductive health and rights. I have been participating in activities organized by humanitarian organizations that aim to extend migrants’ rights and improve their living and working conditions. Under “Gallery”, I maintain a collection of photos from these activities and my fieldwork.