Ben Moeller

I am a doctoral candidate in Area Studies (Japan) at Kellogg College, University of Oxford.

My research focuses on how history, tradition, and identity are taught and negotiated at the National Defense Academy of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces. Through an institutional ethnography of the NDA, I hope to feed back to the literature and theory on the relationship between society, state, and the military in Japan and beyond.

Before joining OSGA I worked for the Fukushima Prefectural Government in Japan, where I was involved in the promotion of renewable energies and medical technologies as a Coordinator for International Relations. For previous dissertation projects I have explored Paraguayan China policy, higher education policy in Japan, and gender dynamics in violent splinter groups of the Japanese New Left.

I hold a Masters from Peking University (2022) where I studied Chinese Studies at Yenching Academy, an MPhil in Japanese Studies from the University of Oxford (2020), as well as a Bachelor’s in Integrated Japanese Studies from Freie Universitaet Berlin (2018).

College: Kellogg College

Department: Oxford School of Global and Area Studies (OSGA)

Supervisor: Professor Roger Goodman

Previous Degree Programme: MPhil in Japanese Studies 2018/19 - 2019/20