GBH, April 2025
When Daniel Aldrich first stepped foot in Japan as a foreign exchange student, he didn’t speak a word of Japanese and wasn’t sure how he’d find his way around. “I was just a junior in high school from North Carolina,” he said. “I was really worried.” But soon after arriving, Aldrich found that he could zip anywhere within the crowded Tokyo metropolis by walking a few minutes to the nearest train stop. “I found Tokyo to be the subway of the future,” he said.
Now a professor of politics and public policy at Northeastern University, Aldrich lives in Brighton with his wife and four children. But he’s always felt the pull of Tokyo — so much so that he’s returned for research and fellowships, spending a total of six years living in the city.
