was a Japanese anthropologist. A professor for decades at Kyoto University, he was also among the founders and the director-general of National Museum of Ethnology in Osaka, Japan. A number of Umesao's theories were influential on anthropologists, and his work was also well known among the general population of Japan.
Publications In Japanese 1956 Exploration to the Moghols in Afghanistan, Iwanami Shoten 1957 Ethnological Conception of the History of Civilizations, Chuo Koron-sha 1969 The Art of Intellectual Production, Iwanami Shoten 1974 The Japanese in the Global Age, Chuo Koron-sha 1976 The World of Hunting and Nomadism, Kodansha 1986 The Formation and Development of Modern Japanese Civilization, Nihon Hoso Shuppan Kyokai 1987 The Museum as Media, Heibonsha 1988 Civilization Theory on Information, Chuo Koron-sha 1988 Women and Civilization, Chuo Koron-sha 1989 Research Management Theory, Iwanami Shoten 1989–94 Collected Works of Tadao Umesao, Chuo Koron-sha 1997 Action and Imagination: an autobiography, Nihon Keizai Shinbunsha 2000 Japanese Civilization in the Modern World: Comparative Study of Civilizations, Chuo Koron Shinsha
In other languages 1983 Le Japon à l'ère Planétaire, Paris : Publications Orientalistes de France. 1984 Il Giappone Nell'era Planetaria, Milano: Spirali Edizioni. 1988 “Prolegomena zu einer historischen Betrachtung zivilisierter Lebensformen“ in Japan ohne Mythos, Munich: Iudicium. 1998 The Roots of Contemporary Japan (trilingual in English, Japanese and Chinese), Tokyo: The Japan Forum. 2002 Ecological and Anthropological Study of the Nomadic Culture of Mongolia, Hohhot: People's Press of Inner Mongolia. 2003 An Ecological View of History: Japanese Civilization in the World Context, Edited by Harumi Befu, Translated by Beth Cary, Melbourne: Trans Pacific Press. An Ecological View of History was also translated into Chinese (Shanghai, 1988) and Vietnamese (Ha Noi, 2007)
Awards and honors Jan. 1988 The Asahi Prize, Japan Apr. 1988 Commandeur, Ordre des Palmes Académiques, France May 1988 Medal with Purple Ribbon, Japan Oct. 1990 Japan Foundation Award, 1990.Japan Foundation, Japan Foundation Award, 1990 Nov. 1991 Person of Cultural Merit, Japan Nov. 1994 Order of Culture, Japan Jul. 1998 Person of Cultural Merit, Mongolia Nov. 1999 Grand Cordon of the Order of the Sacred Treasure, Japan Oct. 2002 C&C Prize (Foundation for Computers and Communications Promotion), Japan
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