Her publications include Building Democracy in Japan (Cambridge 2012), Politics and Volunteering in Japan: A Global Perspective (Cambridge 2007), co-edited with Carol Hager, NIMBY is Beautiful: Local Activism and Environmental Innovation in Germany and Beyond (Berghahn Books, forthcoming), and articles in journals such as Comparative Political Studies, Democratization, Journal of Asian Studies, and Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly. She has received numerous grants and fellowships from organizations such as the Institute of International Education (Fulbright), the Harvard Academy for International and Area Studies, the Japan Foundation, National Endowment for the Humanities, Mellon Foundation, Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation, and the East Asian Institute. She is currently working on a project about environmental politics in East Asia.