Tatsuma Padoan (*1979, PhD) obtained his doctorate in Languages, Cultures and Societies from the University of Venice Ca' Foscari in March 2011 with a thesis entitled: Attori, reti e linguaggi dell'esperienza religiosa. Indagini semiotiche sulle strategie di enunciazione nel discorso religioso giapponese [Actors, networks and languages of the religious experience. Semiotic investigations on the strategies of enunciation in Japanese religious discourse]. He is a part-time lecturer in Cultural Anthropology at the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano and a member of LISaV (International Semiotics Laboratory of Venice, IUAV University). His research areas include the semiotics of religions and the anthropology of language, brand management and the politics of urban space. In terms of methodology, he is particularly interested in the relationship between semiotics, anthropology and Actor-Network-Theory as part of studies on Sciences and Technology, studies on ritual and pilgrimages and in design and visual communication. He was a visiting research student in the Study of Religions at SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London) and a research student in Cultural Anthropology at Tokyo’s Keio University, carrying out research activities in this field in Japan.