Ph.D. in Anthropology from the State University of New York at Albany (1983). Vice President of Meisei University, Tokyo, and Professor at the Meisei Center for the Advancement of Education. Former president of the Japan Association for Latin American Studies (2016-2018). His research includes the ethnography of the Tzotzil in southeastern Mexico, the self-portrait of Mexican cultural history from its Independence to the present day, and the history of the Mexican image in Europe. His most recent article is "Transmission of soft culture across generations: Lessons learned from Mayan studies".