Born and raised in Japan, Yuma Totani received her B.A. in History of Art from International Christian University (Tokyo, Japan), 1995; M.S. in Politics from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, 1997; and Ph.D. in History from the University of California, Berkeley, 2005. She specializes in the studies of post-WWII Allied war crimes trials in the Asia-Pacific region (1945-1952). She undertakes a series of multi-year research and book publications that aim at illuminating the conditions and consequences of Japanese war and war crimes, and that assess the implications of our historical knowledge of WWII to the present-day dialogue on strengthening the principles of international justice, accountability, and the rule of law. She is a professor of history at the University of Hawaii.