Books
2027 (March) Fraught Futures: Hope, Connection, and the Unhoused across Tokyo – with Cornell University Press.
More information on my book can be found here.
2015 Alcoholism, Masculinity, and Japan: Suffering Sobriety in Tokyo. New York: Lexington Books.
More information on my book can be found here.
Peer reviewed publications
2026 ‘“The birthrate’s declining! Create an environment where women can give birth and work afterwards!”: Survey data about gender (in)equality as a (non)pressing issue in Japan’ (with Charles Crabtree, Tom Le, Charles T. McClean, Lauren McKee, and Cindi SturtzSreetharan). Japan Forum, 1-27. https://doi.org/10.1080/09555803.2026.2639984
2025 ‘Selective Development Goals: Examining Japan’s SDG Implementation Gaps’ (with Cindi SturtzSreetharan, Charles Crabtree, and Charles T. McClean). Social Science Japan Journal. https://doi.org/10.1093/ssjj/jyaf021
2025 ‘The Fictitious Shine of Japan’s Future.’ Asia Pacific Journal – Japan Focus.
2021 ‘Symptomatic Trauma: Japan, Drug Addiction, and the Limits of Treatment.’ Social Science Japan Journal Volume 24, Issue 2.
2020 ‘Fake Meets Soul: Division Among Hawai’i’s Japanese Surfers.’ Journal of Sport and Social Issues. https://doi.org/10.1177/0193723519898704
2018 ‘Non-National Bodies in a National Pastime: Japan, Baseball, and the Manufacturing of Difference‘ in Japanese Studies 38 (1).
2017 ‘Scripting addiction, constraining recovery: Alcoholism and ideology in Japan’ in Japanese Studies 37 (3).
2017 ‘The Program is Perfect: Narcotics Anonymous and the Managing of the American Addict.’ Medicine Anthropology Theory 4(5).
2012 ‘The Burden of Sobriety: Alcoholism and Masculinity in Japan.’ Pan Japan: The International Journal of the Japanese Diaspora. Blai Gaurne and Paul Hansen ed. Special Edition, Escaping Japan: Outside, Volume 8, Issue 2.
2012 ‘Darvish in Texas: Haafu identity and athletic celebrity,’ The Asia-Pacific Journal – Japan Focus, Volume 10, Issue 44, No. 2. http://japanfocus.org/-Paul-Christensen/3850
Chapters in Books
Other publications
2026 ‘If Japan Is The Future, Why Aren’t We More Upset?’ Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus. https://apjjf.org/2026/1/christensen
2025 ‘Tokyo’s Shining, Segregated Future’ The Diplomat https://thediplomat.com/2025/02/tokyos-shining-segregated-future/
2024 ‘Jingu Gaien Redevelopment Sparks Outrage in Tokyo. It the Backlash Too Little, Too Late?’ The Diplomat https://thediplomat.com/2024/01/jingu-gaien-redevelopment-sparks-outrage-in-tokyo-is-the-backlash-too-little-too-late/
2023 ‘The hypocrisy of Japan’s punitive drug policy.’ East Asia Forum https://www.eastasiaforum.org/2023/04/04/the-hypocrisy-of-japans-punitive-drug-policy/
2021 ‘Japan’s Lessons for the World: Robots Won’t Save Us. Rethinking Japan’s global relevance in the 21st century.’ The Diplomat https://thediplomat.com/2021/12/japans-lesson-for-the-world-robots-wont-save-us/
2015 ‘Battle of Okinawa’s legacy lives on 70 years later as locals chafe against Japanese rule, US arms.’ The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/battle-of-okinawas-legacy-lives-on-70-years-later-as-locals-chafe-against-japanese-rule-us-arms-39357
2013 ‘Surfing: Polynesian Origins of Sport.’ Area Studies Series: Hawai‘i. M. Yamamoto and T. Yamada eds. Tokyo: Akashi Publications [in Japanese]. (ポリネシア発祥のスポーツ：サーフィン」山本真鳥・山田亨編『ハワイを知るための60章』明石書店)
2009 ‘The Hawai‘i Student Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drug Use Study: 2007-2008 Comprehensive Report.’ Submitted to the State of Hawai‘i, Department of Health, Alcohol and Drug Abuse Division, ASO Log #09-061. Co-authored with Goebert, D. (first author), Nishimura, S., Onoye, J., Boyd, E., and Rehuher, D.
2004 ‘Selected Identities: Ethnic Identity Construction Among the New Japanese Immigrants to the San Francisco Bay Area.’ Masters Thesis, San Francisco State University. Dr. Bernard Wong, chair.
2003 ‘Japanese Female Professionals in the San Francisco Bay Area: Gender Based Discrimination in a Globalized World.’ The Treganza Anthropology Museum Papers III, San Francisco State University.
Book reviews
2024 Review of Klaus K. Y. Hammering’s Perilous Wagers: Gambling, Dignity, and Day Laborers in Twenty-First-Century Tokyo (Cornell 2024). Japanese Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/10371397.2024.2427596
2024 Review of Judith Vitale, Oleg Benesch, and Miriam Kingsberg Kadia’s Drugs and the Politics of Consumption in Japan (Brill 2023). Japanese Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/10371397.2024.2374474
2020 Review of Akiko Takeuchi-Demirci’s Contraceptive Diplomacy: Reproductive Politics and Imperial Ambitions in the United States and Japan (Stanford University Press 2018). Pacific Affairs, 93(1), 185-187.
2018 Review of Claire D. Clark’s The Recovery Revolution: The Battle Over Addiction Treatment in the United States (Columbia University Press 2017). Medicine Anthropology Theory, doi.org/10.17157/mat.5.1.588.
2017 Review of Matthew Marr’s Better Must Come: Exiting Homelessness in Two Global Cities (Cornell University Press 2015). Social Science Japan Journal, volume 21, issue 1.
2015 Review of Wolfram Manzenreiter’s Sport and Body Politics in Japan (Routledge 2014). Asia Pacific World, volume 6, issue 1.