14717 items found.
Through a view from the community, this course aims to understand the development of cities and neighborhoods, identify various issues we are facing now, and explore the options that make our living environment better.
Historically the cities were built by the authorities/specialists such as governments, engineers, and architects. They laid out the infrastructure and tried to lead the built environment suitable for specific purposes. In contrast to this “traditional” planning, the idea that the users, residents, and visitors, discover how they live and use the city, “machizukuri”, has become widely accepted and supported recently. Based on this community-based planning concept, this class will explore and discuss, through interdisciplinary approaches, how we can work with diverse groups of people in a community to find ways to make their cities and neighborhood better: thriving, safe, inclusive, and just.
Using a variety of print and visual media, this course will investigate the concept of multicultural society. The course will begin with a study of multicultural societies in settler colonial countries such as Canada and the United States. The second phase of the course will look at how national and ethnic identities and mythologies were created and sustained in a variety of European countries. The third phase of the course will be student presentations profiling minority groups of their choice.
Critical areas: Literary Studies, Film Studies, Media Literacy, Colonization & Othering, National Identity Theory, Cultural Identity, Social Identity Theory, Gender Studies, Indigenous Studies
The 'unification of the world' that originated in the Age of Discovery accompanying the changes in its core regions, passed through the 'long 19th century' (from the beginning of the Age of Revolution to the outbreak of the First World War), when nation-states became the dominant unit of the global network, further progress was made as 'globalisation' after the Second World War. Today, the free movement of people, goods, capital and information move more freely than ever before, its scale is expanding and various societies are becoming more and more interconnected. On the other hand, the influence of the nation-state remains strong, which has formed a sense of national unity by emphasising homogeneity of ethnicity, language and religion, and has sought stability based on it.
In the irreversible process of globalisation, can nation-states realise a society where people of different nationalities and ethnicities can live together, recognising their cultural differences and building equal relationships? If so, how can this be achieved? The aim of this class is to seek answers to these questions.
The 'unification of the world' that originated in the Age of Discovery accompanying the changes in its core regions, passed through the 'long 19th century' (from the beginning of the Age of Revolution to the outbreak of the First World War), when nation-states became the dominant unit of the global network, further progress was made as 'globalisation' after the Second World War. Today, the free movement of people, goods, capital and information move more freely than ever before, its scale is expanding and various societies are becoming more and more interconnected. On the other hand, the influence of the nation-state remains strong, which has formed a sense of national unity by emphasising homogeneity of ethnicity, language and religion, and has sought stability based on it.
In the irreversible process of globalisation, can nation-states realise a society where people of different nationalities and ethnicities can live together, recognising their cultural differences and building equal relationships? If so, how can this be achieved? The aim of this class is to seek answers to these questions.
Asia Workshop is a dynamic working space where students and instructors collaborate to discuss emerging issues in Asia. Topics for discussion change every year to keep up with both regional and global developments.
This year's workshop focuses on the theme "Asia in Mixed Cultures." We are increasingly witnessing the blending of cultures at both individual and national levels. More young people today are born and raised in multicultural environments, giving them the freedom to embrace the cultures they prefer. Culture is no longer solely inherited; it can be chosen. Additionally, social and physical environments are evolving to accommodate this cultural blending. This prompts us to question the relevance of national boundaries, countries, uniqueness, and differences. What defines Asia? What does it mean to be an Asian?
To answer these questions, we will design various activities, lectures, interactive sessions with guest speakers, and simulated fieldwork, among other methods, to generate a comprehensive understanding of Asia in a changing world. We will introduce immersive technologies to facilitate students’ first-hand observations while conducting simulated fieldwork on campus.
It is difficult to understand the modern Chinese history without studying the history of rural areas. Rural dwellers account for most of China's population in the 20th Century. The establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949 was the result of the Communist Party's rural revolution, and the socialist revolution in the 1950s was also mainly carried out in rural areas.
Unlike the history centered on politicians and elites, this course examines the history of rural society in China throughout the 20th century from the perspective of villages and peasants. It is divided into two main parts: "The Structure of Traditional Chinese Rural Society in Pre-modern Time" and "War, Revolution, and the Transformation of Chinese Rural Society in the 20th Century" In the first part, I will examine the structure of traditional Chinese villages through a comparation with Japanese villages, and then explore how the rural society was ruled by the emperors in the pre-modern time. In the second part, I will examine the transformation of Chinese rural society in the 20th century, focusing on war, revolution, and the construction of the Nation-State in Chinese countryside. I will also analyze the legacy left by the socialist revolution and examine how it continues to shape contemporary rural governance in today’s China.
The purpose of the course is to approach human (in)security by examining the role of the state in its services to the people, the services that the state can provide, and the extent to which the state services can reach out for its people. Examining risks presented to the individuals due to the lack of services and/or the limited coverage of existing services are also another focus of the course. The role of the government (acting in the name of the state), theoretically speaking, is to design policies and offer services to its people and in return, people pay taxes in order to enjoy the services provided, that is, public goods. Depending on the extension of services it can provide can one state be considered either a night watchman state or a welfare state. How do the people carry out their daily life given the presence/absence of the protection from its state in a certain area? Even where the state is involved, there is no assurance that such policies and/or services are comprehensive enough to cover everyone, or even effective for many. Furthermore, even with these problems, these policies and services may either give so little autonomy to their beneficiaries (people). The course will use examples of health, police, education, etc as illustrations to examine how different types of states deal with each issue and how their approach influences the living of its people.
This lecture’s topic is "International Relations in East Asia and the Pacific". We will talk about several episodes that shaped the Asia-Pacific region throughout history till today. this course will examine both relations among East Asian countries and between East Asian countries and non-East Asian countries. The class will require the active participation of students through readings made to prepare the class and participation in class.
This class aims for enhancing the understanding of contemporary international political economy, security and society mainly in East Asia through examining theories, policy frameworks and practices. All sessions are conducted in English.
”Region” could be defined in various terms. In international relations, it generally indicates the multilateral groupings of neighboring nations. However, when it comes to the term regionalism, it suggests a functional relation that bundles multiple nations with their political, economic and cultural inheritance, often based on the geographical advantages. Region could be formed either inherently or arbitrary. Thus, the "Region/Regionalism" is a dynamic concept of geopolitics/economics, which rests between the global governance, the bilateral rational choice of the government, and people's perceptions.
This course specifically focuses on following agendas: 1)theory and practices of regionalism in East Asia, 2)security in Asia-Pacific region, 3)Japan’s foreign policy on regionalism.
This course will be looking into multiple cases of conflict resolutions, as well as multilateral preventive diplomacy, which are conducted by international and/or regional organizations to defuse tension and resolve conflicts in various parts of the world, especially in the Middle East/West Asia region.
Why does scientific advice on nutrition keep changing? Does hydroxychloroquine cure coronavirus? How can we tell the difference between a scientific breakthrough and fake news? And how can a budding scientist do exciting research that will save the world and land you a job without following in the footsteps of the fraudsters and spin artists who have been taken down by scientific scandals? This course will look closely at some of the worst examples of science gone wrong from across all disciplines, including RIKEN’s faked stem cell images, the over-hyped “Mozart effect”, scientific racism in IQ and skull measurements, and Excel errors in GDP:debt ratio calculations. Taught by someone with first-hand experience both with using open science and with retracting a high-profile journal article, we will have frank discussions about the perverse incentives that select for unethical science practices and how we might fix them.
The course examines important aspects of Japan-US relations from the beginning of their encounter in the mid-19th century to the present. It will focus on national interests of both states, including how they have coincided and differed over the years. At the same time, it will study the background of how their leaders and peoples have built mutual trust and have managed to foster an alliance in the post-WW2 period.
本科目は英語で開講されます。This course will explore conceptual, theoretical, and accumulated knowledge of international security and conflict studies. Security studies in 21st century face with complex and uncertain international trends: 1) rise of emerging powers (how do emerging powers change the international security order?), 2) asymmetrical threats (terrorism and insurgency activities), 3) proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and conventional weapons, 4) emerging importance of new domains (space and cyberspace). Throughout this semester, this course will conduct in-depth lectures and discussion dealing with these emerging trends of international security.
Asia Workshop is the dynamic working space where students and instructors work together to discuss emerging issues in Asia. Topics for discussion changes every year to keep up with changes at both regional and global scales.
For this year, the workshop focuses the discussion on “What is Asia?” Is Asia just a group of countries with different culture, histories and economies? What is so unique about Asia? What, in addition to its geographical location, makes Asia Asian and remain Asian in the context of globalization? To answer the question, we will provide a series of guest-speaker lectures on Asia and its member countries to generate understanding in width and in depth about Asia and how it has adapted to globalization.
We also design activities of fieldwork simulation to engage students in intensive observation of what is around in their living environment. We will introduce Immersive technologies to facilitate the students’ first-hand observations.
The purpose of the course is to approach human (in)security by examining the role of the state in its services to the people, the services that the state can provide, and the extent to which the state services can reach out for its people. Examining risks presented to the individuals due to the lack of services and/or the limited coverage of existing services are also another focus of the course. The role of the government (acting in the name of the state), theoretically speaking, is to design policies and offer services to its people and in return, people pay taxes in order to enjoy the services provided, that is, public goods. Depending on the extension of services it can provide can one state be considered either a night watchman state or a welfare state. How do the people carry out their daily life given the presence/absence of the protection from its state in a certain area? Even where the state is involved, there is no assurance that such policies and/or services are comprehensive enough to cover everyone, or even effective for many. Furthermore, even with these problems, these policies and services may either give so little autonomy to their beneficiaries (people). The course will use examples of health, police, education, etc as illustrations to examine how different types of states deal with each issue and how their approach influences the living of its people.
This class aims for enhancing the understanding of contemporary international political economy, security and society mainly in East Asia through examining theories, policy frameworks and practices. All sessions are conducted in English.
”Region” could be defined in various terms. In international relations, it generally indicates the multilateral groupings of neighboring nations. However, when it comes to the term regionalism, it suggests a functional relation that bundles multiple nations with their political, economic and cultural inheritance, often based on the geographical advantages. Region could be formed either inherently or arbitrary. Thus, the "Region/Regionalism" is a dynamic concept of geopolitics/economics, which rests between the global governance, the bilateral rational choice of the government, and people's perceptions.
This course specifically focuses on following agendas: 1)theory and practices of regionalism in East Asia, 2)security in Asia-Pacific region, 3)Japan’s foreign policy on regionalism.
This course will be looking into multiple cases of conflict resolutions, as well as multilateral preventive diplomacy, which are conducted by international and/or regional organizations to defuse tension and resolve conflicts in various parts of the world, especially in the Middle East/West Asia region.
How and why did music evolve? Why is it found in all human cultures, but in such different forms? This course will review the state-of-the-art in scientific research about the biological and cultural evolution of music and musicality in both human and non-human animals. Students will take turns leading discussions of each textbook chapter including a 15-minute presentation. Evaluations will include short weekly reports about the week’s reading, in-class presentations, and a final report proposing an original research project that extends the ideas developed in the class.
Why does scientific advice on nutrition keep changing? Does hydroxychloroquine cure coronavirus? How can we tell the difference between a scientific breakthrough and fake news? And how can a budding scientist do exciting research that will save the world and land you a job without following in the footsteps of the fraudsters and spin artists who have been taken down by scientific scandals? This course will look closely at some of the worst examples of science gone wrong from across all disciplines, including RIKEN’s faked stem cell images, the over-hyped “Mozart effect”, scientific racism in IQ and skull measurements, and Excel errors in GDP:debt ratio calculations. Taught by someone with first-hand experience both with using open science and with retracting a high-profile journal article, we will have frank discussions about the perverse incentives that select for unethical science practices and how we might fix them.
Instability that emanates from West Asia/Middle East and North Africa has become one of the major challenges for the international community. This course will examine the root causes of this condition from various view points, such as history, politics, society, economy, religion, security, et al.
本科目は英語で開講されます。This course will explore conceptual, theoretical, and accumulated knowledge of international security and conflict studies. Security studies in 21st century face with complex and uncertain international trends: 1) rise of emerging powers (how do emerging powers change the international security order?), 2) asymmetrical threats (terrorism and insurgency activities), 3) proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and conventional weapons, 4) emerging importance of new domains (space and cyberspace). Throughout this semester, this course will conduct in-depth lectures and discussion dealing with these emerging trends of international security.
Course Topic: Changes in Asia at the beginning of the end of Covid-19: Data collecting, Evidence selecting and storytelling.
Content: Asia Workshop is the dynamic working space where students and instructors work together to discuss emerging issues in Asia. Topics for discussion changes every year to keep up with changes at both regional and global scales. Against the prolonged backdrop of the Covid-19, we are committed to sustaining the interactive working environment for the students and promoting “get-your-hands-dirty” activities to facilitate the students’ first-hand observations of problems and encourage their original interpretations of the collected data. To realize that aim, we will introduce an online platform as a working space where students can discuss and exchange opinions with the support of visual aids to have a real feel for the projected reality. At the class, the students can experience:
- “One sees for all” (one collect material (video, picture, narrative) for the rest to observe);
- “Together, we see more and better” (all interpret one given material),
- “Different eyes different views” (one reality can be presented differently in a different context)
The topics covered include development, health, poverty, global warming, unemployment and many more (subject to changes depending on the students’ background). We also provide lectures delivered by guest speakers during the semester.
The purpose of the course is to approach human (in)security by examining the role of the state in its services to the people, the services that the state can provide, and the extent to which the state services can reach out for its people. Examining risks presented to the individuals due to the lack of services and/or the limited coverage of existing services are also another focus of the course. The role of the government (acting in the name of the state), theoretically speaking, is to design policies and offer services to its people and in return, people pay taxes in order to enjoy the services provided, that is, public goods. Depending on the extension of services it can provide can one state be considered either a night watchman state or a welfare state. How do the people carry out their daily life given the presence/absence of the protection from its state in a certain area? Even where the state is involved, there is no assurance that such policies and/or services are comprehensive enough to cover everyone, or even effective for many. Furthermore, even with these problems, these policies and services may either give so little autonomy to their beneficiaries (people). The course will use examples of health, police, education, etc as illustrations to examine how different types of states deal with each issue and how their approach influences the living of its people.
This course will explore the history and aesthetics of independent animation in the Asia Pacific Region. The lectures will have a heavy focus on East Asian animation pioneers and contemporary innovators, but students are encouraged to do research into independent animation more widely across the Asia-Pacific region for their presentations and essays.
Critical areas: Film Studies, Animation Studies, Media Literacy, National Identity Theory, Cultural Identity, Social Identity Theory, Gender Studies
This class aims for enhancing the understanding of contemporary international political economy, security and society mainly in East Asia through examining theories, policy frameworks and practices. All sessions are conducted in English.
”Region” could be defined in various terms. In international relations, it generally indicates the multilateral groupings of neighboring nations. However, when it comes to the term regionalism, it suggests a functional relation that bundles multiple nations with their political, economic and cultural inheritance, often based on the geographical advantages. Region could be formed either inherently or arbitrary. Thus, the "Region/Regionalism" is a dynamic concept of geopolitics/economics, which rests between the global governance, the bilateral rational choice of the government, and people's perceptions.
This course specifically focuses on following agendas: 1)theory and practices of regionalism in East Asia, 2)security in Asia-Pacific region, 3)Japan’s foreign policy on regionalism.