Federico Lanzaco Salafranca (Barcelona, 1929) is one of the most renowned Spanish Japanologists. Graduated in Philosophy from the University of Comillas, he specialized in Linguistics at the University of Michigan, (USA) and later directed the Center for Japanese Studies of the Society of Jesus in Japan. He was Professor of Contemporary Humanities at Sophia University (Tokyo) and Honorary Professor at the Center for East Asian Studies at UAM. For almost thirty years he was deputy president in the Spanish-Japanese company Acerinox S. A. His numerous publications include: The Aesthetic Values of Japanese Classical Culture; Taoism, Zen Buddhism and Christianity. Three Paths of universal spirituality; Japanese culture reflected in their language or the Japanese woman. An outline through history.

In 2002 the Japanese Government awarded him the Imperial Decoration of the Order of the Sacred Treasure and in 2011 he was awarded the First Prize of the Spain-Japan Council Foundation together with Fernando G. Gutiérrez and Fernando Rodríguez-Izquierdo.