EVENT

Friday, 11 July, 10:30–12:00 JST

Achieving planetary health requires not only scientific solutions but also fundamental cultural and behavioral transformations. This lecture will present a comprehensive approach that addresses both individual values and social systems. Through examples from Japan and Scandinavia, it emphasizes the importance of integrating eco-sophy—ecological philosophy—into policy and societal frameworks. Furthermore, it highlights the crucial roles of non-state actors, including NGOs and academic institutions involved in the water and energy sectors, alongside governments, in addressing climate change challenges.

Wednesday, 16 July, 15:00–16:30 JST

Since the Edo period, intellectual exchange between Japan and Korea has continued in a　sustained　manner. Despite the colonial rule in the 20th century, intellectual interactions became even more active. This lecture revisits several cases of such exchange between Japanese and Korean intellectuals, such as Fujiwara Seika and Gang Hang, Yamazaki Ansai and Yi Hwang, the Kogaku school and Jeong Yakyong, and Fukuzawa Yukichi and Yu Giljun, to explore the potential for a future Japan-Korea intellectual community. While past attempts to make an East Asian community have often faced the “East Asian paradox”, namely, the reinforcement of nationalism, this lecture is also an attempt to seek clues for overcoming such challenges.

Wednesday, 23 July, 15:00–16:30 JST

Human senses—sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch—shape how we perceive and interact with the world, influencing environmental experiences and cultural practices. Yet sensory politics—the social organization of touch, smell, and taste—often reinforces hierarchies, marginalizing certain groups as environmental ‘others.’ This lecture examines the ‘environmentality’ of the senses, focusing on their role in perpetuating inequalities within discriminatory social structures. By interrogating how sensory norms sustain injustice, I argue for a new environmental justice vocabulary—one that integrates sensory and social dimensions to address the entangled relationships between environment, power, and lived experience in caste-based societies.

Wednesday, 30 July, 15:00–16:30 JST

Coffee is one of the world’s most popular beverages, associated with sociality, alertness, and productivity. Over time, coffee production has contributed to environmental degradation, rural poverty, and societal inequities. Currently, its production is threatened by climate change, market volatility and economic uncertainties. Drawing on longitudinal research with coffee producers in Central America, this talk will examine coffee producers’ efforts to improve their coffee quality, socioeconomic well-being, and environmental sustainability in contexts of extreme weather events and myriad insecurities. The discussion also will consider consumer roles, the impacts of certifications, and approaches for supporting climate resilient coffee production.

Tuesday, 5 December, 13:00-14:30 JST

Japanese companies are both criticised and praised for holding large cash balances. Globally companies have increased cash hoarding, but Japan remains an outlier. This lecture looks at Japanese companies’ saving and its economic effects, including on labour’s share of national income.

Monday, 27 November 2023, 15:00-16:30

CCTV cameras are installed almost everywhere in Tokyo and other Japanese cities, and private security systems, introduced in the 1980s, are now standard in most homes. Surveillance is also embedded in everyday life, work, and play and has become “a way of seeing” and influences “ways of being seen.” In this presentation Prof. Robertson explores how and why AI-enabled entertainment and surveillance technologies have become fused, and speculates on the consequences of their triangulation.

Monday, 20 November 2023, 2:00-4:00pm

In this webinar, we will introduce the toolkit and delve into critical topics confronting law enforcement agencies. These include ethical considerations, transparency, privacy protection, anti-bias measures, and security assessments related to the implementation of AI systems. Given the growing international interest in AI governance, we anticipate that the discussion will extend to Japanese law enforcement agencies. We aim to explore the future directions for AI utilization within Japanese law enforcement while raising awareness of these pivotal issues among various agencies, organizations, and businesses leveraging AI technology.

Thursday, 26 October 2023, 19:00-21:00 JST (London: 11:00-13:00; Sao Paulo: 7:00-9:00am; New York: 6:00-8:00am)

The new award-winning translation of The Bankruptcy by Júlia Lopes de Almeida makes this novel available to Anglophone readers for the very first time. To celebrate its publication, this symposium will gather the translators and editor of the novel together with scholars in translation and literary studies to discuss the state of world literature today and the role played by translation in Brazil, Japan and beyond.

Tuesday, 24 October 2023, 10:30-12:00 JST

The so-called 'K' culture originating from South Korea has gained popularity not only in Japan but also globally. This talk will focus on understanding this current situation in the context of political, economic, and societal changes in South Korea since the late 1990s. By doing so, it will provide an opportunity to shed light on the relationship between culture and democracy in contemporary South Korea, and offer some modest insights for contemplating the often turbulent Japan-Korea relations.

Friday, 20 October 2023, 16:00-17:30 JST

Over the past 15 years, a massive transformation of the international tax framework has occurred. Traditional instruments have been modified and completed by new rules aiming to better fight tax evasion and tax avoidance. These changes have also fostered tax cooperation between authorities. What will happen to this reform in a context of geopolitical fragmentation and crisis of global governance?

Tuesday, 3 October 2023, 16:30-18:00 JST

Artificial intelligence already has the potential to revolutionize healthcare in the near-future. This talk introduces Prof. Hosio’s work on digital health, highlighting the convergence of different digital technologies, some ongoing case studies on mental health, and crowdsourced, massively scalable online experiments exploring the cross-cultural differences and human factors.

Thursday, 21 September 2023, 15:00 - 16:30 JST

Mobility—the ability to move people, goods and information—is fundamental for all of humanity. Woven by Toyota's purpose is to deliver safe, intelligent, human-centered mobility to the world. We will discuss the variety of software-intensive systems that power this mobility, supported by an advanced, state-of-the-art vehicle software-platform.

Wednesday, 13 September 2023 15:30-17:00 JST

With the increasing public concerns on climate change and environmental sustainability, in the next decades “fossil fuel energy” will be transformed into “electron energy” with renewable electricity. This lecture will focus on three ways of addressing some of the challenges that arise with renewable energy such as its storage and irregular production. These include non-equilibrium energy and chemical conversion, materials manufacturing, and upcycling. The benefits of these processes will also be discussed relative to decarbonization and sustainability.

Tuesday, 22 August 2023, 16:00-17:30 JST

The Japanese economy faces various challenges, including stagnation, inflation, aging population, and unsustainable fiscal policy and environment. This talk will discuss how to assign effective macroeconomic policies to meet these issues.

Tuesday, 25 July 2023, 1:00-2:30pm (12:30pm Doors Open)

“Ukraine today could be East Asia tomorrow,” Prime Minister Kishida has warned. But how to prevent this? America’s allies, including Japan and the Philippines, are seeking to build a network of deterrence. How can this be combined with diplomacy? Could deterrence become provocation? This lecture will explain and explore these dilemmas.

Thursday, 20 July 2023, 4:00-5:30 pm

In this online launch of “Plural Entanglements: Philippine Studies,” anthropologist Dr. Dada DOCOT discusses the ethic of scholarly generosity, plurality, and diversity that frames this newly edited volume, and Dr. Grace BARRETTO-TESORO introduces their chapter that uses Indigenous perspectives to rebuild a chronology that advances a decolonial approach in the study of Asia.