This is a course on visual culture in the 20th and 21st century, with a particular focus on the interplay between media technology, culture and society. This course will also be multidisciplinary in nature, as we reflect on our discursive assumptions in the historical, sociological, anthropological, philosophical disciplines among others. While the readings may primarily cover phenomenon in the United States, participants will be strongly encouraged to think of the specificity of the impact of globalization on media and society in various regions of the world including Japan. The course objectives are the following: -Gain a better understanding of the relationships between society, media, people, institutions and how they function as agents of maintaining the status quo or for fostering change -Learn about the transformative faculties and social implications of quotidian applications of technology -Gain deeper understanding of the academic disciplines Topics will include (but are not limited to): -representation of race, ethnicity and gender and other minorities -regional, transnational and international ecosystems of information technology -artificial intelligence and algorithmic bias -technological advancement and implementation in everyday life and the powers at play

This is a course on visual culture in the 20th and 21st century, with a particular focus on the interplay between media technology, culture and society. This course will also be multidisciplinary in nature, as we reflect on our discursive assumptions in the historical, sociological, anthropological, philosophical disciplines among others. While the readings may primarily cover phenomenon in the United States, participants will be strongly encouraged to think of the specificity of the impact of globalization on media and society in various regions of the world including Japan. The course objectives are the following: -Gain a better understanding of the relationships between society, media, people, institutions and how they function as agents of maintaining the status quo or for fostering change -Learn about the transformative faculties and social implications of quotidian applications of technology -Gain deeper understanding of the academic disciplines Topics will include (but are not limited to): -representation of race, ethnicity and gender and other minorities -regional, transnational and international ecosystems of information technology -artificial intelligence and algorithmic bias -technological advancement and implementation in everyday life and the powers at play

This course aims to provide an overview of space governance from the perspectives of space policy and law. For this purpose, lectures are to be given by academia, practitioners and specialists in outer space activities and utilization. The course requires students to explore the possible solutions/proposals on specific themes through joining group work and writing individual report. Space governance and space policy are interrelated and the key terms in understanding how space missions need to cope with the existing regulatory framework and how to identify pressing issues/challenges that all space actors need to go through. Such knowledge is beneficial not only to traditional actors (e.g., government and national space agencies) but also to New Space actors (e.g., private entities) or new space-faring nations (e.g., UAE) who started space missions recently. With the increasing number of space actors, due to growing interest in Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), various space applications both by government and private sector are flourishing to support societal needs. Considering such a crowded situation in Earth orbit and the limits of resources available in outer space, this course provides comprehensive lectures that help students to explore the possible and practical solutions necessary for pursuing further space activities. In FY 2024, before dealing with the latest topics including space traffic management (STM), space resources exploration, and space x SDGs, the course provides introductory lectures on space policy and law, governance of various space activities, the role of space actors (i.e., space agencies, industry, international organizations) and the process/forum of rule-making for sustainable space activities.

This course aims to raise awareness on the critical role of space technology in our daily lives and the important implications it has on domestic policymaking and international relations. The first part of the course, titled “Space and Society”, provides an overview of major space technologies and their applications. It then demonstrates how space assets have become a critical infrastructure on which advanced societies are over-reliant, and the hazards and threats that they are facing. The second part of course delves into political science and international relations. It addresses the various approaches to space policymaking, the structure of international relations in outer space and the major challenges ahead for the space sector.

Natural ecosystems, of which humans are also inherently a part, have evolved over a very long period undergoing natural selection, and have developed as diverse yet stable self-generating systems. This lecture will explain the concept of permaculture, which attempts to capture the principles of such functioning ecosystem and design agricultural and social systems in line with these principles. The lecture will also discuss how the idea of permaculture has influenced the current various social movements to solve environmental and social problems. The lectures will also discuss what is needed to change social systems into regenerative one, and how research can contribute to this change.

情報メディアは、多くの分野にまたがる学際的な分野である。ここでは、情報を作り送り出す側と情報を受け取る側とのコミュニケーションの場やその手段を、情報メディアと呼ぶことにする。この「情報メディア表現論」では、情報をどうやって得るのか、どんな方法で伝達するのか、そのデータをどう解析処理するのか、といった理工学的な研究、および、その結果をどのように可視化するのか、何を見せたら人々に伝わるのか、どんな表現が人々の行動に結びつくのか、その結果、社会がどう変わっていくのか、といった人文社会学的な研究の両方を対象とする。今回は、我々の生存に直結する災害情報（地震発生と火山噴火）を主な題材として、自然災害に直面した時に生じる情報メディアの課題を考えていく。

Media Design is an exciting and relatively new discipline within the wider context of design. In it researchers and practitioners are interested in exploring new ways to use and deploy digital media technologies to have function, communicate information or present artwork. Designers from a Media Design background often work on or with web design, e-books, data-bases, big data visualisation, smartphone applications, film, animations, digital imaging, art installations, technology products and many other artefacts and systems. Such designers create their ideas utilising digital or electronic formats and the intention is often that the work is created from scratch to be accessed on a digital platform. This course is a first step introduction to Media Design, it is not intended to be a comprehensive class but rather a short and intense introduction to some processes and skills and you may wish to continue your exploration of this discipline in other classes or studies.

現代社会が抱える課題の多くは、一つの学問領域の中だけで解決できるとは限らず、複数の分野を横断する学際科学的な思考方法が必要とされる。本講義では、そのような課題の解決に向けた学際科学的アプローチをオムニバス形式で紹介する。計5つのテーマ（意識研究とAI技術、地図とリスク認知、地球外生命探しと生命の定義、気候変動と社会的価値、現実とバーチャル）に関する問題を受講生同士で討論することにより、問題の理解を深め、解決への道を模索することを趣旨とする。本講義では、問題を単に受動的に理解するのではなく、受講生が主体的に考え、議論し、ディベート・プレゼンを行うといった一連のプロセスを重視する。これにより、学際的な思考方法、問題の発見・探求の方法、解決手段の検討と思考方法を養成することを目標とする。同時に、プレゼンテーション技術（スライドの作り方など含む）やディスカッション・ディベート能力の習得を目指す。

There have developed quite separate debates concerning, on the one hand, the Transformation of Warfare, and Revolution in Military Affairs on the other. Conventional knowledge is that while the former approach encompasses a vast range of scholarly analysis on how war in the contemporary era might have transformed in all spheres of economy, politics and society, the latter has focused on the impact of technological advancement in a narrower sense on warfare, especially the way in which warfare has been conducted or ought to be conducted. However, to discuss changes in the character of war in these quite distinct spheres, each with specific preoccupations with no interactions, is not very conducive to a meaningful generalization about the transformation of warfare itself. The purpose of this seminar is to consider the impact of modern and contemporary technological changes, espe-cially focusing on communication and media spheres, on the character and conduct of warfare today, hence bridging the two distinct spheres of interests.

There have developed quite separate debates concerning, on the one hand, the Transformation of Warfare, and Revolution in Military Affairs on the other. Conventional knowledge is that while the former approach encompasses a vast range of scholarly analysis on how war in the contemporary era might have transformed in all spheres of economy, politics and society, the latter has focused on the impact of technological advancement in a narrower sense on warfare, especially the way in which warfare has been conducted or ought to be conducted. However, to discuss changes in the character of war in these quite distinct spheres, each with specific preoccupations with no interactions, is not very conducive to a meaningful generalization about the transformation of warfare itself. The purpose of this seminar is to consider the impact of modern and contemporary technological changes, espe-cially focusing on communication and media spheres, on the character and conduct of warfare today, hence bridging the two distinct spheres of interests.