SHIMAZONO Susumu is a leading Japanese scholar in the field of the sociology of religion. He is Professor Emeritus in the Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Tokyo. His research interests include social and cultural phenomena based on religion. He successfully passed the entrance exam of the Department of Science III, University of Tokyo, the most prestigious medical school in Japan, but chose not to attend it. Instead, he went on to graduate from the Faculty of Literature, Department of Religion and History, University of Tokyo, in 1972.