Previous Events

Tuesday, 7 May 2024, 10:00-11:00 am JST

Complexity questions the duality of existence, favoring multiplicity over singularity. In philosophy, Leibniz and Deleuze explored this intricacy. Mathematicians like Cantor, Gödel, and Turing delineated the boundaries of rationality. Freud and Lacan proposed the psyche's autonomy and symbolic realm. This ongoing discourse reaffirms metaphysics' relevance in contemporary thought, highlighting a preference for complexity.

Friday, 26 April 2024, 14:00-15:30 JST

Monuments mourning the deaths of wartime foreign laborers bring to mind two meanings of the term “dark” in relation to heritage: the commemoration of tragic episodes in history and the importance of little known, nearly hidden monuments to this history. What messages are conveyed at these doubly dark locations?

Wednesday, 24 April 2024, 15:30-17:00 JST

This lecture explores Saudi Arabia’s dedication to strengthening its ICT infrastructure to protect businesses and individuals from cyber threats. The discussion includes the Kingdom’s initiatives to reassess its cybersecurity capabilities, its investments in a vision of a digitally secure economy, and a strategic framework to position itself as not only a regional leader but also a global pioneer in collective cybersecurity.

Thursday, 18 April 2024, 14:00-16:00 JST

One of the most famous quotes from Montesquieu’s De l’Esprit des lois is: “China is thus a despotic state of which the principle is fear”. Before jumping to hasty conclusions driven by the present context, I suggest that we should start with delving into the history of the reception of Montesquieu’s thought and most famous work first in Meiji Japan, and then in late imperial China.

Wednesday, 17 April 2024, 10:30-12:00 JST

Museums are inherently for their visitors and exhibitions their unique medium of communication. In America's polarized era how can exhibitions engage the imaginations of our diverse publics while also inspiring a feeling of shared humanity?

Monday, 15 April 2024, 17:00-18:30 JST

The World Bank, the American government, and virtually all scholars agree that “Property rights are at the heart of the incentive structure of market economies” and that a “free and robust market can thrive only where property rights are accorded respect.” Drawing on empirical reality, I argue the reverse: that property rights must be destroyed for rapid economic growth and to realize the social benefits that growth can provide.

Thursday, 28 March 2024, 10:00-12:00 JST

In this event, we will host discussions with experts on overseas AI governance to delve into the trends in international AI safety and governance.

Monday, 25 March 2024, 05:30-7:00 pm JST

This talk traces the evolution of the idea of "rights" in the West and the notion of rights-talk, and then discusses Gandhi's thinking on rights, his philosophical, ethical, and political reservations about the idea of rights, and his anticipation of the Anthropocene.

Monday, 18 March 2024, 17:00-18:30 JST

To celebrate International Women’s Day this March, Tokyo College’s “Gender, Sexuality & Identity” collaborative research group will host a special webinar event with MURATA Sayaka, author and winner of the 155th Akutagawa Prize for her novel ”Convenience Store Woman” (2016). Through discussing Murata’s writing, experiences, and inspirations, the event hopes to generate reflection on society’s gender and sexuality “norms” and how they shape our world.

Monday, March 11th, 2024 15:30-17:00 JST

Education is a necessary partner in addressing global sustainability challenges. Wild Pedagogies aim to re-examine human relationships with places, landscapes, nature, non-human beings, and planetary boundaries. They foreground nature as a teacher and challenge globalizing trends towards increased control over pedagogy. Wild Pedagogies are offered to all—parents, students, community educators, teachers, academics, business leaders, policymakers, wilderness guides, and more—who wish to expand their horizons and are curious about the potential of wilder practices.

Wednesday, 6 March, 2024, 10:00-12:00

At this event, following the survey report last year, we will introduce an overview of the survey conducted this year. Inviting students and faculty members who joined in this year’s project to share their observations on the “future of work” through the survey, we also discuss the possibilities and challenges of its methodological aspects. We would like to discuss future developments of the survey with companies, organizations, and students who are interested in this work.

Monday, 4 March 2024, 15:00-16:30 JST

Robotics is gaining increasing importance across a wide range of applications, including industrial production, agriculture, assistance to individuals and households, and medicine. However, its progress is still constrained by the mechanical basis of construction and operation. The disadvantages of the constraints can be radically reduced by the advent of “soft robotics”. In this lecture, Prof. Viovy presents and illustrates the potentialities of this emerging field with a few examples, and discusses its future and potential limitations.

Wednesday, 28 February 2024, 15:00-16:30 JST

Macroeconomics has been a contested field since it was invented in 1936. It is dominated by sophisticated models that assume that people behave rationally. But slowly, the recognition that people do not behave like “homo economicus” is changing things. Hours of work, use of leisure time, patterns of spending, are affected by social norms and conventions; and these things affect how the economy responds to disruptions like wars and pandemics.

Wednesday, 24 January 2024 15:30-17:00 JST

As centralized technologies wield increasing influence over our society, the significance of Web3.0—decentralized, fair, and open web technologies—has never been more critical. Join us in envisioning a secure, transparent, and inclusive digital landscape, uncovering the transformative potential of the decentralized web in this forward-looking exploration.

Every Friday from December 1, 2023 (Available from 17:00 JST)

“The Salon” is a new 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 and Professor John Lie of UC Berkeley, who is currently staying at Tokyo College.

Wednesday, 17 January 2024, 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm (Doors Open: 2:30 pm)

In 2018, the public toilet renovation project, “THE TOKYO TOILET (TTT)” commenced in Shibuya, Tokyo. Representing Japan and featuring 16 internationally renowned creators, including architects at the forefront, this project brought creativity and design to the often-overlooked realm of urban architecture – the public toilet. It successfully introduced new value to this object. In 2021, Mr. Yanai also initiated a new art film project to address the challenges of TTT and his debut production, “PERFECT DAYS”, earned the Best Actor award at the 2023 Cannes International Film Festival. Now the movie is currently being actively promoted for the Academy Awards. In this talk, Koji will explain why he embarked on the toilet project, what insights he gained, and why he produced a film at the end of those insights.

Wednesday, 10 January 2024 14:00-15:30 JST

In May 2023, the Prime Ministers of Japan and the UK sealed "an enhanced UK - Japan global strategic partnership," pledging to strengthen "the free and open international order based on the rule of law." Is this a realistic objective for two distant, mid-sized, island nations in an increasingly contested, volatile world? How much can their partnership really contribute to international rulemaking or tackling global issues? Can it indeed safeguard either party’s national security or prosperity? How should we measure the results?

Every Wednesday from November 1, 2023 (Available from 17:00 JST)

What constitutes groundbreaking research in a university setting? Tokyo College postdoctoral fellows will be conducting interviews with UTokyo professors in the UT7 research group to find out how they are engaging in new forms of research driven by curiosity and ultimately contributing to the evolution of our understanding of life.

Tuesday, 5 December 2023, 15:30-17:00 JST

In 2015, British Prime Minister David Cameron spoke of a ‘Golden Era’ in UK-China relations. In 2022, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak officially declared this over and his government has portrayed China as posing an epoch-defining challenge to the international order. How have British views towards China – both inside and outside government and in the press – evolved and diverged during this turbulent period? How best should Britain engage with, or disengage from, China to sustain British interests and values?

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.