His research focuses on modern Japanese history, civic activism, civil society, and political thought. He is the author of Transnational Japan in the Global Environmental Movement (University of Hawaii Press, 2017) and Making Japanese Citizens: Civil Society and the Mythology of the Shimin in Postwar Japan (University of California Press, 2010), as well as numerous book chapters and journal articles. His current research examines Japanese grassroots activism in postwar (East) Asia. Many of his publications can be downloaded at his homepage (https://savenell.wordpress.com/).