Weston S. Konishi is director of Asia-Pacific studies at IFPA, where he specializes in Japan and Asia policy issues. Before joining IFPA, he was an adjunct fellow at the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation in Washington, D.C. In 2009, he served as an analyst in Asian affairs at the Congressional Research Service (CRS), authoring Japan’s Historic 2009 Elections: Implications for U.S. Interests, the first report to Congress focusing on the Democratic Party of Japan. He was also principal author of the CRS report, South Korea: Its Domestic Politics and Foreign Policy Outlook. From 2007 to 2008, Weston was a Council on Foreign Relations/Hitachi International Affairs fellow in Japan, conducting research on Japanese foreign and defense policies at the Tokyo-based Institute for International Policy Studies (IIPS) and the National Institute for Defense Studies (NIDS). From 2004 to 2007, Weston served as director of programs at the Mansfield Foundation, where he oversaw the Foundation’s exchanges, policy dialogues, research projects, and development activities. He co-authored, with Mr. Steve Clemons, the Japan chapter in Powers and Principles: International Leadership in a Shrinking World (Lexington Books) and is a contributing author in the edited volume, Strategic Yet Strained: U.S. Force Realignment in Japan and its Effects on Okinawa (Stimson Center, 2008). From 2000 to 2008, Weston was a monthly contributing columnist on regional affairs for The Daily Yomiuri. He is a member of the United States Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific (USCSCAP) and a participant in numerous leadership forums, including the Aspen Institute’s Socrates Society. Weston received his BA and MA from the International Christian University in Mitaka, Tokyo, where he was awarded a Monbusho (Ministry of Education) Scholarship.