EVENT

Tuesday, 22 April, 14:30–16:00 JST

From "Being about Something to Being for Somebody" is the memorable title of Stephen Weil's contribution to the 1999 Daedalus volume on American Museums. Though decades old and not without challenges, the phrase continues to resonate within the museum field. In many ways it encapsulates the ways in which institutions have changed from privileging curator-defined information and institution-defined goals to promoting the visitor's experience and the broader community.
In her talk, Leslie Bedford, a longtime museum practitioner and professor of museum studies, will explore the meaning of Weil's phrase and how it has been implemented by museums, including those she has visited in Japan. Her talk will include a discussion of the online conversations she is facilitating with Japanese museum professionals and academics. And finally, she will raise the question of what "visitor centered" can mean today and in the future.

Wednesday, April 23, 2025 15:00-16:30 JST

Carbon and nature markets are struggling with low trust, high costs, and limited scale—falling far short of what’s needed. In this lecture, Professor Weder di Mauro presents a new market design co-developed with Estelle Cantillon and Eric F. Lambin. Jurisdictions offer large-scale projects; investors buy shares that yield carbon and biodiversity “dividends” without conferring land ownership. Market prices reveal demand and support liquidity. Compared to credit-based systems, this approach cuts costs, boosts credibility, and supports long-term commitments. It tackles the core problems holding back today’s markets—and offers a credible path to scale with real environmental impact.

Wednesday, May 7, 2025 10:30-12:00 JST

Japan outlaws gender discrimination in virtually the same terms as every equivalent country and yet it ranks 118th out of 146 countries, 111 notches below Germany, 103 below the US. Why? Is it that Japanese culture demands women remain meekly at home? If so, why do women graduate from universities at a higher rate than men? Why do they participate in the work force at a high rate? Why do they bring – and win - employment discrimination suits? This lecture will explore these questions and offer tentative – extremely tentative – observations on the reasons.

Thursday, 8 May, 10:30–12:00 JST

World literature has been a reality since at least the nineteenth century. Texts travel across continents and cultures, translated from every language, taught in universities worldwide, and forming an emerging global canon. Never before have we been so free to read whatever we wish, from anywhere. Or so it seems. But is this true freedom, or merely a comforting illusion? What are the boundaries of this seemingly limitless literary exchange? This talk aims to explore those limits and propose a new approach to literature—a different way of reading texts, one that is either entirely new or, perhaps, simply old and forgotten. Welcome to the world library!

Thursday, 24 June 2021, 4:00-5:00 pm

Over 50 years, Japan changed from a rapidly-growing economic superstar to a sedate veteran, raising questions about what transitions are needed to succeed as a post-industrial, advanced economy. Japan is in the vanguard of the problems that face many other countries, and its experience raises questions about how to adapt to slow-moving and ubiquitous problems such as ageing population, inequality, changing work patterns, slow productivity growth and industrial hollowing out, but also about resilience, response to short-term crises and change. For all its specific characteristics there is a lot the world needs to learn from Japan.

Wednesday, 9 June 2021 8:30-10:00am (JST) / Tuesday, 8 June 2021 7:30-9:00pm (EST)

This Tokyo College Symposium welcomes Professor Benjamin Friedman to our campus (virtually) for a discussion on the relationship between economic and religious thinking in relation to his recently published book titled “Religion and the Rise of Capitalism.” The symposium begins with a brief presentation by Professor Friedman on the main ideas of the book with remarks by Professor Shinji Nohara and Dr. Rory Schacter to follow. A panel discussion moderated by Professor Takeo Hoshi further explores how political economic thinking is influenced by religious and other intellectual debates in the societies of not only Western countries but in Japan and East Asia as well.

Thursday, 27 May 2021, 9:00-10:30 am (JST) / Wednesday, 26 May 2021, 08:00-09:30 pm(EDT)

Recent studies and media accounts reporting Japan to be unusually vaccine hesitant require critical scrutiny. Our historical review shows that many vaccines have been accepted and that today recommended routine vaccines are universally accepted. That said, social mobilization of vaccine-injured victims has generated public and official hesitancy toward new vaccines and represents a significant challenge for Japan’s public policy.

Wednesday, 23 April 2021, 4:00-6:00 pm

Wednesday, 21 April 2021, 8:30am- (JST) / Tuesday, 20 April 2021, 4:30pm-(PST)

Tuesday, 20 April 2021, 5:00-6:30 pm

Tokyo College is a young institute at the University of Tokyo founded to address some of global society’s pressing issues through interdisciplinary research, international network building and public engagement. In this talk, we will present our effort to collaboratively design and teach a bilingual interdisciplinary undergraduate seminar entitled “The Earth and Human Society in 2050” in the framework of the university’s liberal arts program zengaku zemi.

Thursday, 15 April, 2021, 15:30-17:00 pm

Wednesday, 14 April 2021, 9:00–11:00 am

Friday, 9 April 2021, 10:00-11:30am

Tuesday, 6 April 2021, 3:00-4:30 pm

Wednesday, 31 March 2021 (Available from 17:00 JST)

Takatoshi Ito and Takeo Hoshi, the authors of The Japanese Economy, 2nd Edition (MIT Press), discuss current issues in the Japanese economy.

Wednesday, March 31, 2021, 10:00-11:30am