Tom Le

日本 老いと成熟の平和 (translation of Japan’s Aging Peace by Umehara Toshiya (Misuzu Shobo, 2025). Reviewed by Chuo Koron, Asahi Shimbun, Komei Shimbun, Record China, Seikyo Shimbun (top 3 books to leave an impression in 2025), and Chugoku Shimbun.

Japan's Aging Peace: Pacifism and Militarism in the Twenty-First Century (Columbia University Press, 2021). International Security Studies Section (ISSS) ISA Best Book Award Honorable Mention co-recipient. Reviewed by Asia Policy (roundtable), Journal of Indo-Pacific Affairs, Pacific Affairs, Asian Studies Review, and Japanese Studies.

“Understanding Global Responses to Terrorism: What Drives Opinions on Terror.” forthcoming (with Neil Chaturvedi)

“Negotiating in Good Faith: Overcoming Legitimacy Problems in the Japan-South Korea Reconciliation Process.” Journal of Asian Studies. 78, 3, 621-644. (2019)

“Japan and the Revolution in Military Affairs.” Journal of Asian Security and International Affairs. 5, 2, 172-196. (2018)

Journal Articles, Policy Notes, and Book Reviews

“Technology, Innovation, and Governance: How Toyama City, Fujisawa Sustainable Smart Town (SST), and Tsuchiyu Onsen are Building Climate-Resilient Cities and Addressing Demographics Crises.” Asia Pacific Tech-Monitor (Oct-Dec) (with Masahiko Haraguchi, Sebastian Maslow, Paul Midford, and Kunihiro Nishimura)

“Japan’s Quiet Leadership: Between Vision and Necessity” (book review) Asia Policy, 19, 3, 177-180.

“Pride, Not Prejudice: National Identity as a Pacifying Force in East Asia” (book review), Journal of Asian Studies, 83, 2, 515-517.

“Author’s Response: Demographics is Destiny – It’s Just Difficult to Pinpoint When It Arrives and How Much It Will Hurt,” Asia Policy, 18, 2, 184-189. 

“Yoon Suk-yeol’s Visits to Japan and the United States: A Japanese Perspective,” The Asan Forum (April 2023). 

“Japan, South Korea Must Address Mounting ‘Debt’ of Historical Atrocities,” United States Institute of Peace (February 2023). 

Tom Le, “A Japanese Security Sea Change? Let’s See Change First,” criticalasianstudies.org Commentary Board, January 4, 2023.

“Northeast Asia.” In J. Sperling (Ed.), Handbook of Governance and Security (pp. 188-215). Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar. (with Robert Uriu; 2014)

Annalise Chang, Tom Le, and Sebastian Maslow, “A Historic Win, Familiar Politics: The Paradox of Takaichi’s LDP Leadership,” criticalasianstudies.org Commentary Board, November 6, 2025

“Japan-South Korea relations under Lee’s pragmatic leadership,” East Asia Forum (July 2025; with Olivia Lee)

“The Japanese Military Has a People Problem: When Depopulation Becomes a National Security Risk,” Foreign Affairs (March 2025). 

“Trump’s Return Debunks the Natural Alliances Myth,” East Asia Forum (December 2024; with Lina Chang)

“Russia and North Korea’s Treaty Exposes Blind Sports in the Security Community,” East Asia Forum (October 2024; with Annalise Chang and Munique Tan)

“Akira Toriyama and the Trust Source of Japanese Soft Power,” The Diplomat (March 2024). 

“Japan–South Korea Deal on Forced Labour Leaves Many Questions Unresolved,” East Asia Forum (April 2023; with Hanah Park and Hina Tanabe)

“From a ‘history problem’ to a history of problems,” Tokyo Review (August 2022; with Lily Zhang)

“Can you blame millennials for embracing ‘meme’ stocks?,” Real Clear Markets (July 2022). 

“First-gen in the academy,” Inkstick (August 2021). 

“The 2020 Olympics is a manmade disaster,” Tokyo Review (July 2021). 

“Tokyo wants to upgrade Japan’s defense capacity. A demographic crisis could get in the way,” The Washington Post Monkey Cage (July 2021). 

“Media coverage of Tiger Woods’s accident shows that Americans don’t see athletes as fully human,” The Washington Post Monkey Cage (March 2021; with Gabrielle Herzig)

“How culture explains COVID,” Tokyo Review (November 2020; with Heayoon Kim)

“75 years later, Japan and South Korea have yet to fully reconcile their wartime and colonial history,” The Washington Post Monkey Cage (August 2020; with Anna Yu)

“Making the North Korean economic project work,” Global North Korea, East Asia Institute (April 2020; with Michelle Tunger)

“Repeating past mistakes in Japan-Korea reconciliation,” Tokyo Review (January 2020; with Daphne Yang)

“China will dominate high-tech unless the United States takes off the gloves,” The National Interest (September 2019; with Lucy Gold and Ryan Levy)

“South Korea and Japan must cooperate more, not less, on North Korea,” Nikkei Asian Review (August 2019). 

“Why Japan-South Korea history keeps resurfacing,” The Washington Post Monkey Cage (July 2019). 

“The bogus backlash against ‘crazy rich Asians,’ International Policy Digest (August 2018). 

“The fight for human rights in North Korea,” East Asia Forum (May 2018; with Kent Boydston)

“Living with failure on the Korean peninsula,” East Asia Forum (May 2017). 

“Reviving the ‘pivot to Asia’,” East Asia Forum (March 2017; with Mieczysław P. Boduszyński).

Conference Presentations and Invited Talks (Selected)

2025

“A Typology: Addressing Environmental and Demographic Crises through Smart Cities,” Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, Vancouver, CA (with Paul Midford, Sebastian Maslow, Kunihiro Nishimura, Masahiko Haraguchi, and Clara Elizabeth Gillispie)

“Future Well-being and Peace,” Kyoto University, August

“Japan’s Aging Peace,” National Institute of Defense Studies, Tokyo, July

“Demographics and Security in Japan,” Machinaka Community Center, Sasebo, July

“日本老いと成熟の平和ブックトーク,” Hiroshima City University, July

“Japan’s Aging Peace – API Roundtable with Dr. Tom Le,” The International House of Japan, Tokyo, July

“日本老いと成熟の平和ブックトーク,” University of Tokyo, July

“Japan’s Strategic Culture as a Global Actor,” Marmara University (Turkey), Zoom, May

“Japanese Military and Security II,” LEAP-ACE, Yokota Airbase, May

“Japanese Military and Security,” LEAP-ACE, Yokota Airbase, May

“Discussion with Dr. Tom Le, author of Japan’s Aging Peace,” Air Force Culture and Language Center, Zoom, February

“Japan’s Antimilitarism Ecosystem,” Yale University, January

2024

“Japan’s Domestic Politics and International Relations,” Pacific Air Forces, Zoom, October

“Injustice as Debt: Recommendations for Japan-South Korea Reconciliation,” USC, October

“Japan’s Domestic Politics and International Relations,” USAF Culture and Language Center, Zoom, September

“Political Science,” Stanford/e-Wakayama, Zoom, September

“Japan’s Domestic Politics: National Security and Decision-Making Processes,” USAF Culture and Language Center, Zoom, May

“Japan’s International Relations: Tokyo’s Perspective,” USAF Culture and Language Center, Zoom, May

“Session III: Regional Security Priorities – In Contrast to Perceptions in DC,” West Coast US-Asia Scholars Network, panel discussant USC, April

“Injustice as Debt: Recommendations for Japan-South Korea Reconciliation,” Peace and Reconciliation in East Asia Conference, Soka University, April

“Inclusivity and Equity in Japan: A View from Civil Society, Election Participation, and Labor,” panel discussant, Association of Asian Studies Annual Conference, Seattle, March

2023

“Japan’s Aging Peace: Pacifism and Militarism in the Twenty-First Century,” Center for Global Peace and Conflict Studies, University of California, Irvine, May

“Expensive Bodies: How Demographics Impact Japan’s Security,” CJS Aging in Asia Conference, University of Michigan, Zoom, March

2022

“Japan’s Aging Peace: Pacifism and Militarism in the Twenty-First Century,” Meiji Gakuin University, December

“Book Talk - Japan’s Aging Peace: Pacifism and Militarism in the Twenty-First Century,” Tohoku University, July

2021

“Keynote Address – Japan’s Aging Peace: Demographics, Security, and Justice,” JSA-ASEAN e-Conference, Manilla, Philippines, Zoom, December

“Book Talk - Japan’s Aging Peace: Pacifism and Militarism in the Twenty-First Century,” University of Toronto, Zoom, October

“Japanese Conceptions of Security in the Twenty-First Century,” USC, Zoom, October

“Japan’s Aging Society,” YCAPS, Zoom, August

“How to Write and Op-ed,” Dartmouth College, Zoom, May

“Enduring and New Frontiers in US-Japan Relations,” The East-West Center, Zoom, March

2023-present

Reviewer, East Asia Forum

Reviewer, Oxford University Press

2021-present

Co-founder, Women in Global Security Working Group, Pomona College

Reviewer, Asian Journal of Political Science

Reviewer, Journal of American-East Asian Relations

2020-present

Reviewer, Peace and Conflict Studies Journal

Reviewer, Journal of Asian Studies

2019-present

Reviewer, East Asia: An International Quarterly

Reviewer, Journal of Human Rights

2016-2020

Co-editor, Politics and History Section Newsletter, APSA

Studio Ghibli and Foundations of Political Science

Sports and Politics

International Relations Senior Seminar

International Relations Intermediate Seminar

International Relations of East Asia

Security and Cooperation in International Relations

Introduction to International Relations

Asian Studies Senior Thesis Seminar