Ioannis Gaitanidis is an associate professor at the Graduate School of Global and Transdisciplinary Studies, Chiba University, Japan. Ioannis’ research focuses on contemporary crossings between therapy and religion. His monograph, Spirituality and Alternativity in Contemporary Japan: Beyond Religion? (2022) was published in Bloomsbury Advances in Religious Studies. Since 2013, he has been involved in managing the Japanese Studies curriculum at Chiba University. These efforts of thinking about Japanese Studies pedagogy from the ground up led to the publication of a co-edited/co-authored textbook, Kuritikaru Nihongaku: Ky.d. gakush. o t.shite Nihon no sutereotaipu o manabihogusu (Critical Japanese studies: Unlearning Japanese stereotypes through collaborative learning, 2020, Akashi Shoten).