One of my long-standing research themes for nearly 40 years has been on Nikkei from the Philippines and other Asian countries who are descendants of pre-Pacic War Japanese migrants. After I published an English book entitled Transforming Nikkeijin Identity and Citizenship: Untold Life Histories of Japanese Migrants and Their Descendants in the Philippines, 1903-2013 (publisher: Ateneo de Manila University Press) based on my PhD dissertation completed at the Australian National University, I received the ""Distinguished Alumnus Award"" (in Migration Studies) from the University of the Philippines Alumni Association in 2016. I have been developing research on Philippine Nikkei jin(including Japanese left behind) in both the Philippines and Japan for the publication of a new book.

Since serving as the head of the international research team ""International Sociological Research on the Opening of Japan's Labor Market: Focusing on the Nursing and Care Sectors"" (2007-09) when he was a professor at Kyushu University Asian Center, he has organized many research teams as a representative, and has been involved in numerous research projects up to the present. During the period of the COVID-19 pundemic, he also published numerous papers in Japanese and English as a representative of three research groups, including the IPCR project ""Changes in Attitudes and Practices of Care in the Wake of the Spread of COVID-19: Focusing on Foreign Nursing and Care Workers Residing in Japan"". Based on these research outcomes, he plans to continue and develop his research on this theme together with Associate Professor Mario Lopez of this center in 2024 and beyond.

Having an interview with Nikkei Nisei (Photo taken in Davao City, the Philippines in May 2024)

With Vietnamese technical intern trainee candidates bound for Japan (Photo taken in Hanoi City, Vietnam in March 2023)