Yutao Lu is a first-year PhD student in the Department of East Asian Studies. He received his MA in East Asian Studies from the University of Alberta and his BA in History from Simon Fraser University in Canada. His current research focuses on Japanese religion and intellectual history. In particular, his research examines the politicization of definitions of religion in the Tokugawa (1603–1868) and Meiji (1868–1912) periods, centering on Aizawa Seishisai (1782–1863), a prominent Mitogaku scholar, and his influential writing Shinron (New Theses, 1825).
Prior to joining the University of Arizona, he spent ten months studying at the Inter-University Center for Japanese Language Studies (IUC) in Yokohama, Japan (2023–24). Immediately thereafter, he pursued intensive training in classical Japanese at the University of British Columbia (2024–25). He also currently serves as one of the graduate representatives to the East Asian Studies Department Council at the University of Arizona.