Jiro Kawakita

{{Infobox person

| name = Jiro Kawakita

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| birth_date = {{birth-date|May 11, 1920}}

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| death_date = {{Death date and age|2009|07|08|1920|05|11}}

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| nationality = Japanese

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| occupation = Geographer
Cultural anthropologist

| known_for = KJ Method, 1985 Ramon Magsaysay Award recipient

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{{nihongo|Jiro Kawakita|川喜田 二郎|Kawakita Jirō}} was an ethnographer, a pioneer in participation of remote Nepalese villagers in researching their problems, resulting in practical benefits of potable water supplies and rapid rope-way transport across mountain gorges.{{cite web|author=Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation |url=http://www.rmaf.org.ph/newrmaf/main/awardees/awardee/profile/260 |title=Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation - Awardees |publisher=Rmaf.org.ph |date= |accessdate=2014-04-21}} He was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1984.

He is reported as the author of KJ method for organizing notes,{{Cite book |last1=Valsiner |first1=Jaan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VTriHfZBBn8C&dq=jiro+kawakita&pg=PA102 |title=The Cambridge Handbook of Sociocultural Psychology |last2=Rosa |first2=Alberto |date=2007-06-04 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-85410-8 |language=en}} also termed affinity walls in UX Research. He viewed the method as an alternative to Western quantitative methods in ethnography.

Kawakita established the non-profit organisation Institute for Himalayan Conservation Japan.{{Cite web |date=2017-09-01 |title=Institute for Himalayan Conservation Japan |url=https://tabunka.tokyo-tsunagari.or.jp/english/topics/close/close_1709.html |access-date=2023-08-24 |website=TIPS |language=en}}