Shin'ichi Takemura was born in 1959 in Osaka. He is an associate professor at Tohoku University of Arts and Design, where he teaches anthropology, international relations and cultural design. He represents Project Taos, Tokyo. He graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy and completed a doctorate course in anthropology at the University of Tokyo. He was a senior researcher at the Asia Club until 1992, and has served as a member of numerous public committees and councils, including MITI's Human Media Project. He is interested in the potential and enhancement of the human senses, and such information sources as fashion, sports, dance, cooking, calligraphy, garden design, various media, mobile computing, and human-dolphin and other inter-species communication. Books he has written or edited include "Plural Value Society," "Design with Expansive Effects," and "Externalized Brain."