Hikaru Yamagishi

Research Project: One-Party Dominance in Japan Through Structural Opposition Weakness

Dr. Yamagishi received her A.B. from Dartmouth College, and her M.A. in East Asian Studies and Ph.D. in Political Science from Yale University. Her research in comparative political economy and comparative politics focuses on how political institutions and post-industrial forces shape domestic political competition in advanced industrialized countries, with a special interest in the case of Japan. Her research methods mix qualitative and quantitative strategies. In her dissertation, she combines methods such as direct observation, interviews, and survey experiments to examine patterns of democratic representation in contemporary Japan. During the 2022-23 academic year, Dr. Yamagishi will work on Japan’s mixed-member electoral system and its implications for democratic representation, and a joint project on “Inside the Revolving Door: Government-Business Connections in Contemporary Japan.”