Mika Tsutsumi is a spirited journalist and writer whose work turns a spotlight on the widespread hardships and poverty caused by official policies and the behavior of businesses in the United States.
Her best-selling book "Rupo Hinkon Taikoku Amerika" ("America, the Poverty Superpower") exposed to Japanese readers the shocking reality of the lives led by millions in the U.S. — including tens of thousands who go bankrupt every year due to medical expenses and legions of students mired deeply in debt because of loans they have had to take out at high interest rates to pay for their tuition.
In that book, which won the Nihon Essayist Club Award in 2008, Tsutsumi also analyzed and described how excessive reliance on market forces across U.S. society has also created a "poverty business" that further exploits disadvantaged people and drives them down to the bottom of the social ladder.