Naoko Funatsu joined the Japan Institute of International Affairs (JIIA) in November 2016 as a Research Fellow for American politics, US foreign relations, and Japan-US relations.

She also teaches international relations and US foreign policy at Kyushu University in Fukuoka as a Visiting Associate Professor (July 2017-March 2018, September 2018-March 2019), and international relations at Tokyo Denki University in Tokyo as a Part-time Lecturer (April 2019-March Present).

Her professional career includes two years at the Washington, DC office of the East-West Center (EWC), a non-profit research and education organization funded by the US Congress to improve US-Asia relations, and a summer spent as a graduate intern at the Hudson Institute, a non-partisan policy research organization, both in the United States.

In these capacities, she conducted research and analysis of Japan-US relations as well as the institutions’ program coordination and administrative duties. She also gained extensive professional experiences including research on American politics and economy in Tokyo at the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), the Japanese governmental trade and investment promotion agency, before going to the US to pursue her graduate degree. She earned her Master of Science in Foreign Service (MSFS) from Georgetown University with an additional certificate in Asia Studies and her BA in Foreign Studies from the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies.

She is a member of the Japanese Association for American Studies.