Yuri Fujita is an oral historian and journalist. She joined Columbia University’s Oral History Master’s Program (OHMA) after thirteen years at NHK, Japan’s largest public broadcaster. As a political correspondent, she reported on major policy debates and government decision-making, including during the COVID-19 pandemic, and conducted interviews with policymakers and public officials. Working in broadcast journalism led her to reflect on how much lived experience remains outside formal documentation. She pursued oral history to expand her listening and storytelling approach.

Yuri’s thesis project at OHMA draws on oral history interviews conducted in Brighton Beach, one of the largest post-Soviet diasporic communities in the United States. She listened to individuals’ accounts of navigating uncertainty shaped by war, displacement, legal vulnerability, and political shifts. Her work focuses on close attention to language, power, and representation across cultural contexts, and by a commitment to listening practices that hold stories without forcing resolution.