John Willis Traphagan

John Willis Traphagan is Professor of Religious Studies and Anthropology and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Fellow at the University of Texas at Austin. Traphagan's research has largely focused on rural Japan, with most of his research conducted in Iwate Prefecture. He has published extensively on ethnography, aging, health, and ritual in rural Japan, and also writes on globalization and internal migration. In 2010 he was elected Secretary General of the Japan Anthropology Workshop, the world's largest organization of anthropologists working on Japan, serving until 2014. Traphagan also serves on the Advisory Council of METI (Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence).