Tullio Lobetti graduated in Japanese Language and Literature at the University of Turin in 2003. Since then, he pursued his interest in the study of religion in Japan by obtaining an MA degree in Japanese Religion at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS – University of London) in 2004. In 2011 he obtained his PhD in the Study of Religions from SOAS with a thesis on the subject ‘Body and Ascetic Practices in Contemporary Japanese Religious Context’. He is now Senior Teaching Fellow in the department of the Study of Religions at SOAS.