Jessamyn R. Abel is associate professor in the Asian Studies and History Departments and Affiliated Faculty of the School of International Affairs at Penn State. She is a historian of modern Japan with interests in democratization, technology, infrastructure, sports, and international relations. Her recently published book, Dream Super-Express: A Cultural History of the World’s First Bullet Train, views 1960s Japan through the window of the Tōkaidō Shinkansen, showing how infrastructure operates beyond its intended use as a means of transportation to perform cultural and sociological functions. Her first book, The International Minimum: Creativity and Contradiction in Japan’s Global Engagement, 1933-1964, examines the transwar development of Japanese internationalism. Her current research focuses on postwar Japan to examine the role of public institutions in shaping democracy by promoting democratic thought and practice.