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.

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!

Friday, 8 November 2024 8:00 - 9:15 JST

Japan had two elections—LDP President (September 27) and House of Representatives (October 27)—that elected a new prime minister. During the two elections, many economic policy proposals were presented and debated. The webinar will discuss economic policies that are likely to be adopted and those that are unlikely to be adopted but desirable for the Japanese economy.

Tuesday, 5 November 2024 10:30-12:00 JST

The idiom “50 Ways” in my title should not be taken as a literal metric. “Fifty” is a simply a metaphor for a number larger than a few. In his hit song, “Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover” (1975), Paul Simon provides six ways to leave. In this paper, I will review a number of ways to “kill” a robot together with some of the ways that robots “die.” Death here is broadly defined as the permanent ending of vital processes. I will also review how “deceased” robots are handled. My cultural area focus is primarily Japan and the United States. Both humans and robots are, in several respects, electrical entities, and so in my concluding remarks, I address the question of what happens to each after the electricity is out.

Friday, 1 November 2024 14:00-15:30 JST

Within this presentation, Prof. Baudinette argues that the fundamentally transformative nature of fan subjectivity encourages the production of queer fantasies tied to idols that marginalized social subjects can utilize to critique the social structures which disadvantage them. He unpacks how LGBTQ+ fans across Asia transform idol fandom into a queer space where their fantasy work creates transnational solidarities grounded in the political project of queer emancipation. Through this discussion, he theorizes “queer fantasy work” as it is tied to idol fandom as an explicitly political force in contemporary Asian culture designed to actively produce a more egalitarian and hopeful world.

Thursday, 24 October 2024 15:00-16:30 JST

In this talk, Prof. Hiramori will present findings from his methodological studies to develop questions to measure sexual orientation and gender identity on population-based surveys in the Japanese context. He will also examine the issue of heterosexual respondents being misclassified as non-heterosexual and the difficulty of fully separating heterosexual and non-heterosexual people in survey data. He will conclude the talk by discussing the findings from his latest study that half of those who select “other” as their gender on surveys may be cisgender women, even though this category was meant to capture non-binary respondents.

Wednesday, 23 October 2024, 10:30-12:00 JST

This talk addresses the creation of future narratives in US-based, transnational think tanks, with a view to the combinatorial use of metrics, imagination, and speculation. What kinds of knowledge is brought into play and created? What are the tools and technologies used in future foresight exercises? How are the outcomes of future foresight exercises made credible and authoritative? The talk also discusses how seemingly playful exercises are rendered powerful as significant resources for future leadership, and thus potentially performative.

Wednesday, 16 October 2024 15:00-16:30 JST

There are some feminist issues which are appropriately addressed to the government of one nation-state, while others necessarily cross borders: such as issues to do with migration, imperialism, multinational capitalism. Wherever feminists have attempted to deal with such issues with their sisters in other countries they have been engaged in ‘transnational feminism’, or ‘feminism beyond the nation-state’. This talk will survey some examples of ‘feminism(s) beyond the nation-state’ from the late twentieth century to the present.

Friday, 6 September 2024, 9:00-10:30 JST

In this lecture, Howard CHIANG proposes a new paradigm for doing transgender history in which geopolitics assumes central importance. Defined as the antidote to transphobia, transtopia challenges a minoritarian view of transgender experience and makes room for the variability of transness on a historical continuum.

Saturday, 24 August, 2024, 10:00 - 13:30 (Doors open: 9:45)

This workshop will deal with three case studies: (1) AI for generating text and images, (2) facial recognition technology, and (3) child abuse response systems, providing participants with an opportunity to gain more in-depth knowledge and information about the use and impact of AI. At the same time, participants will share their perspectives on their expectations and concerns about AI.

Friday, 23 August 2024, 16:00-17:30 JST

This panel discussion will feature two distinguished Japanese economists from overseas. They will discuss the current situation of the Japanese economy and the challenges it faces. This discussion will provide new insights into the Japanese economy from an international perspective.

Thursday, 25 July 2024 15:00-16:30 (Doors open: 14:30)

Why is the gender ratio at UTokyo so unbalanced? What can we do to solve this problem? This event will explore these questions through an interactive roundtable that will feature UTokyo professors, researchers, and students. The panelists will share their different perspectives on this pressing disparity, followed by open discussion with the audience. We welcome students and community members with diverse perspectives and backgrounds.

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.