Her research focuses on the logics and practices of Japanese aid in Myanmar, particularly as they emerge in the intersection of questions of religion and secularity, ethics and morality, ecology, and remnants of imperialist ambitions and relations. In addition to several forthcoming publications, she is currently working on a book manuscript entitled Muddy Labor: Nonreligion and the Moral Imaginary of a Japanese NGO in Myanmar. For more on Watanabe’s work, see her faculty webpage.