EVENT

Tuesday, 26 November 2024, 13:00-14:30 JST

We have been repeatedly told that Japan is a "collectivist" or "group-oriented" society, in contradistinction to the United States and other Western countries, which are said to be "individualist." The argument strikes me as wrong, at best. After briefly rebutting the received view, I trace the genealogy of the mistaken idea and explain its cogency.

Friday, 6 December 2024, 15:00-16:30

This lecture will cover ethnographic research on Filipino trans women or transpinay before, during, and after migration in Japan from the 1980s to the early 2000s. Drawing from an intersectional invisibility (Purdie-Vaughns & Eibach, 2008) framework, it will relate the Filipino trans women’s migration experiences to the cases of current issues transgender migrants are facing. This talk will also explore how social media and films create spaces to show and negotiate the (in)visibility of genders.

Wednesday, 11 December 2024 10:30-12:00 JST

Many low income countries face severe environmental problems. They also face an urgent need for tax revenue to finance social needs and economic development. Can environmental taxes provide a way to meet both objectives? Drawing on a recent book, this lecture will take stock of the most pressing of the many environmental challenges faced by low income countries—including in air quality, waste management, soil quality, deforestation, congestion, adaptation to climate change—and consider to what extent improved tax policy can simultaneously help address them and raise a significant amount of tax revenue.

Available from Friday, 13 December 2024 17:00 JST

H.E. Mr. Teimuraz LEZHAVA, Ambassador of Georgia to Japan, who has deep knowledge and insight into Japanese culture and business practices, and Professor SHIMAZU Naoko, a global historian who has studied Japan from an external perspective, will explore one of Tokyo College’s key research themes, “Japan viewed from the inside and outside.”
We invite you to join us for this insightful and engaging discussion.

Monday, 22 July 2024, 14:30-16:00 JST

Dr. Neville Bolt discusses two important concepts that governments around the world have embraced with enthusiasm in the early 21st century. These concepts are related but distinct. Yet all too often they are misunderstood and assumed to mean the same.

Friday, 12 July 2024, 14:00-15:00

This lecture will delve into the inherent risks that AI systems pose across the broader security domain, which are mentioned above, and will conclude with some insights on proposed governance models to prevent and mitigate the risks associated with these technologies. The afore include the need to elaborate binding norms, standards, and guidelines, as well as oversight, monitoring, validation and verification functions through a centralised authority with the appropriate mechanisms to enforce these regulations and ensure compliance through accountability, remedies for harm and emergency responses.

Friday, 28 June 2024, 15:30-16:30

On July 25, 2023, Chuo Koron Shinsha published Dr. Komenko's book, 'The Faraway Sky of Kyiv. Ukrainians in the War', offering a unique perspective on the war in Ukraine.
This book originated from her experience of the war in Ukraine and stories from family members, friends, and former students. Her motivation to write this book came from being interviewed by Japanese media in early 2022. The questions she was asked lacked general knowledge of Ukrainian history and culture; therefore, she decided not to give any further interviews and to focus on writing in Japanese to provide a voice for Ukrainians instead.

Monday, 24 June 2024, 15:00-15:45

The traditional historical narrative locates the birth of hacker culture in US universities in the 1960s. This talk will look at hackers as part of a longer chronology, beginning with science fiction novels at the end of the 19th century, continuing with radio hams in the 1910s and "phone phreaks" in the 1970s, and ending with computer hackers in the late 20th century. It will examine both what hackers and proto-hackers wrote about themselves and how they were perceived by the print media. It will show not only that hacker culture existed before computers, but also that it is an integral part of modern Western technoculture, influencing its ideas about innovation and positive human-machine relationships, as well as media coverage of technology and online communication strategies.

Every Friday from June 7, 2024 (Available from 17:00 JST)

“The Salon” is a dialogue series featuring distinguished scholars in the humanities at the University of Tokyo that aims to transcend disciplinary boundaries. It is hosted by Professor Naoko Shimazu of Tokyo College.The conversations occur over a cup of coffee. We invite you to listen to an informal discussion between experts in different fields, as if you are sitting next to them.This is a chance to see a new side of our guests that you have never seen before.

Tuesday, 4 June 2024, 16:00-17:30 JST

We are in an era in which globalization -- the connection of countries through trade, finance and ideas -- appears to be in retreat, as geopolitical tensions force governments to prioritize economic security and to try to "de-risk". Yet this is not the first time when globalization has been said to be reversing. By looking into history, we can understand what factors will truly determine the future course of globalization.

Thursday, 30 May 2024, 14:00-15:30 JST

Around 80% of all hospitals and around 90% of clinics in Japan are private. Of these private institutions in total, up to 75% are family-run. This lecture sets out to fill a puzzling gap in the literature by describing the development and significance of dōzoku keiei iryō hōjin in the context of how the health system as a whole operates in Japan.

Wednesday, May 29th, 2024, 15:00-16:30 JST

Central banks, and central bankers, stand at a crossroads. They face five major forks in the 21st century requiring careful reflection: (1) the re-emergence of inflation and uncertainties; (2) climate change; (3) inequality; (4) digital financial innovation; and (5) artificial intelligence. Modern central banks have always strengthened their analytical thinking when facing challenges in the past, balancing risks properly and choosing the best path. Now, these new issues imply that central banks will have to carefully identify and analyze their challenging implications.

Friday, 17 May 2024, 14:00-15:30 pm JST

The modern world's international landscape is shaped by an investment in anthropological difference since the emergence of "Europe" in the early modern era. This difference, distinguishing humanitas from anthropos, is anticipatory, guiding humanity's path as a regulative idea rather than a factual norm. It consolidates dichotomies such as Europe/Asia, West/Rest, and white/colored, fostering intricate affiliations. This lecture delves into the identity politics of whiteness, where individuals invest in European culture, Western civilization, and a race devoid of color. However, true belonging remains putative, only realized through contrast with the non-European, non-Western, and non-white.

Tuesday, 14 May, 2024, 16:30-18:00 JST

In this lecture, Prof. Dullin will discuss how Permafrost was invented as a scientific issue, while also being a natural and meaningful ground for the native communities living on it. Then, she will show how Permafrost took, at the turn of the 21st century, a political meaning in the search for sovereignty in different Arctic substates, such as Yakutia.

Friday, 10 May 2024, 10:30-12:00 JST

This lecture follows the Yamashiro-maru steamship across Asian and Pacific waters, innovatively reconstructing the lives of migrants who left Japan for work in Hawai'i, Southeast Asia and Australia in the late-nineteenth century. These stories bring together transpacific historiographies of settler colonialism, labour history and resource extraction in new ways. Drawing on an unconventional and deeply material archive, the lecture addresses key questions of method and authorial positionality in the writing of global history.

Thursday, 9 May 2024, 2:00-3:30 pm

The landscape of human evolution is marked by the diversification of archaic lineages, with various African populations having shaped the emergence of "modern" forms of Homo sapiens. Though "Green Sahara" climatic phases facilitated the migration of African populations, the expansion of Homo sapiens had little connection to environmental factors. This expansion saw the replacement of local populations and profound cultural transformations, ultimately resulting in the spread of a singular human species that continues to shape our environment today.