 His principal interests are in relationships between modernization and ideology.His major research field is Korean Peninsula.His first book "Chosen/Kankoku Nashonarizumu to 'Shokoku-Ishiki" (or "Korean Nationalism as a Small Nation") was given the Special Prize of the 13th Asian and Pacific Prize by the Asia Society and the Mainichi Shimbun in 2001, and his second book "Kankoku ni okeru 'Kenishugiteki' Taisei no Seiritsu" (or "Authoritarianization in South Korea") was also given the 25th Suntory Academic Prize in 2003 by the Suntory Foundation.