In addition to my foreign policy work, I’m an urban studies scholar affiliated with Keio University’s Almazán Architecture and Urban Studies Laboratory in Japan, where I study Tokyo’s approach to urban policy. My focus is on how public policy shapes Tokyo’s urban fabric and communities, particularly its myriad subcultures. I am the research editor and co-author of the book Emergent Tokyo: Designing the Spontaneous City, as well as published work in Architecture and Urbanism. Through my urban studies scholarship, I'm a member of the Explorers Club of New York.

I maintain a private digital library of hundreds of scanned, full-text-searchable Japanese-language books related to Tokyo, which can be accessed by qualified researchers upon request.