J. W. Traphagan is an anthropologist and lecturer in the Department of Language, Literature, and Culture.  He received his PhD in anthropology from the University of Pittsburgh and his MA in ethics from Yale University.  He has over thirty years of experience conducting ethnographic research, largely in Japan.  His work has appeared in The Harvard Business Review, FastCompany, The Conversation, and many other media outlets in addition to numerous scientific journals.  His most recent books are Cosmopolitan Rurality, Depopulation, and Entrepreneurial Ecosystems in 21st-Century Japan, (Cambria Press, 2020), Embracing Uncertainty: Future Jazz, That 13th Century Buddhist Monk, and the Invention of Culture (Sumeru Press, 2021), and The Myth of Organizational Culture: How Leaders Misunderstand the Role of Paradigms and Power (McFarland, 2025).