Nicholas Donabet Kristof (born April 27, 1959 in Yamhill, Oregon) is an American political scientist, author, and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist specializing in East Asia. He is currently a columnist for The New York Times and previously served as the as The New York Times' Bureau Chief in Hong Kong, Beijing, and Tokyo. He has written a number of books on Asia, most notably China Wakes: The struggle for the soul of a rising power (1994) and Thunder from the East: Portrait of a rising Asia (2000), both co-authored with his wife, Sheryl WuDunn. He has also published Japanese Economy at the Millennium (1999), a look at the problems and issues ailing the modern economy of Japan.