Tomoaki Hara (1970–) is a Japanese cultural anthropologist and folklorist and a professor at Waseda University. His research focuses on cultural sustainability, local communities, and fieldwork, with particular attention to Okinawa, Hawaiʻi, and other regions undergoing social and cultural change. In recent years, he has also written extensively on practical approaches to ethnographic research and the broader value of anthropology in understanding everyday life. His book "The Mini-Ethnography Handbook: An Introduction to Fieldwork for Contextual Understanding" presents accessible methods for conducting fieldwork in familiar settings, introducing readers to the principles and practices of anthropological observation and analysis.
