Her research interests include Sociocultural Anthropology, Japan, Japanese descent communities (Nikkei or Nikkeijin), Korea, Inter-Asian Relations, Identity, Consumerism, Popular and Mass Culture, Gender, Minorities, Work and Leisure. She has published extensively on Japanese consumer culture and popular culture, including advertising and tourism, and also on issues of gender, diversity and minorities, as well as on Korean popular culture and the context of Japan's inter-Asian relation. She is one of the Regional Presidents of the World Association of Hallyu Studies (WAHS).