Does the written word have a future? Some contemporary trends seem to suggest otherwise: the replacement of the novel first by movies and then video games as leading cultural form; the shift from text to audio and video in messenger apps and on social media platforms; a (related?) loss of concentration and focus; and sinking rates of functional literacy in many developed countries. And just a year after large language models such as ChatGPT arrived on the scene, artificial intelligence is already doing a lot of writing and reading for us. In this seminar we will take these trends not necessarily at face value, but as a starting point to explore the relationship between reading/writing, media and society from interdisciplinary and comparative perspectives. I invited colleagues in literature and psychology, book history and the history of computing to co-teach this seminar together with me. Together we will look at long-term trends related to various textual media, the evolution of technologies from the printing press to social media platforms, and the social contexts of reading and literacy in order to think about past, present, and future trajectories of textuality. <<Learning Goals>> After successfully completing this seminar, participants will be able to - identify and compare different conceptions of text, reading, writing and literacy - understand textuality as a complex social and cultural practice - analyze how textual practices are influenced by social and technological contexts - consider a range of interdisciplinary perspectives from social media studies, anthropology, history and science and technology studies on textuality - apply critical approaches on the relationship between text, media, and society to their own research as well as to reflections on future scenarios

広く産学官にわたってグローバルに活躍するために必要な「俯瞰力」を養成することを目指す。物質科学の各分野について最先端の知識を修得し、自分の専門分野と周辺分野がどのように関連するか、あるいはし得るか、について深く考察するために、第一線で活躍する講師の方々にその分野の最前線を概観していただく。さらに、それらの講義を通して異分野間のコミュニケーションを円滑に進めるための具体的方法論を学ぶ。 This survey course is designed to enable students to develop the broad perspective that is required of global leaders working in and across industry, academia, and government. Students will gain knowledge and insight on advancements in each field of materials science research, given by leading researchers working on the frontline in those fields. This will allow students to consider how peripheral fields are related to their own area of expertise, and to consider the potential for forging bridges between related fields in the future. In addition, students will learn specific methodologies designed to facilitate smooth communication among different disciplines.

To Learn Fundamental Concepts on Disaster Risk Management of Engineering Systems

To understand the mechanism how natural disasters are caused in the social system, and to obtain skill to analyze the mechanism, process and causes, so that he/she can discuss the mitigation strategy. It consists from two parts. The first part aims to learn basic knowledge about natural disasters as social events. - Factors and mechanism that cause disasters - Concept of Pressure and Release Model (at Risk) etc. The second part is mainly group work for the case studies.

This course is designed to learn a great variety of researches conducted at the frontier of “Sustainability Science”, through the latest research outcomes of Sustainability Science Consortium (SSC) and Integrated Research System for Sustainability Science (IR3S). SSC and IR3S were established to develop sustainability research, education, and public outreach programs and to strengthen coordination between national and local government, corporations, NPOs and other organizations while developing practical measures for technological innovation and social transformation (http://ssc-g.net/*****). By understanding a variety of academic fields related to sustainability and interactions among them, students will come to take part in the process of integrating multiple academic disciplines to implement sustainability science approach.

COVID-19 has starkly reinforced how the world faces global risks, of which COVID is only one out of many. Why does the World Economic Forum publish its annual Global Risks Report and how does it arrive at its findings? And what are so-called “Existential Risks” that supposedly pose a risk to humanity’s very survival? As governments such as the United Kingdom issue National Risk Registers to guide policy makers, this module enables students to examine the security dimensions of living in what sociologists have termed a ‘World Risk Society’. It highlights the new nature of vulnerability in an era of contested and often politicised science, as well as the impact on how we conceptualise and think about security. The module shows how key stakeholders such as industry, media, governments and politicians have to play crucial roles in not only shaping responses to these perceived risks, but also how to appropriately manage them. Students will be introduced to how risks of all types have challenged policy makers in the post-Cold War era from ethnic conflicts in Kosovo, the 9/11 terror attacks, Afghanistan, Iraq and so-called Islamic State. Most recently so-called existential risks such as AI and climate change and systemic risks to critical infrastructure such as the Suez Canal have captured attention. Concepts such as Security Paradigm Shifts, Omission versus Commission; the Risk Calculus, and Precautionary Principle will be discussed. While these issues are not necessarily new in a historical sense, this module shows how they have garnered renewed attention through the prism of risk. Policy responses are finally examined such as capacity for building “futures literacy” and National Risk Assessment Exercises. The following outcomes are emphasized: 1.An ability to understand and evaluate a range of new security challenges and policy responses interconnected through globalization and technology 2.The linkage between industry, media, politics, and science and its relevance to global security affairs 3.The ability to collate and evaluate arguments from different sources and theoretical perspectives 4.The ability to formulate and articulate views coherently in written and oral forms 5.Critical thinking, analytical and reading skills

Course Objectives 目的 ・Widening to recognize agricultural diversity including students' experiences ・Defining "sustainability" and articulating using their own words ① To be able to list 10 or more examples of agriculture; ② To be able to explain the historical development of agricultural sciences; ③ To be able to explain sustainability, sustainable development, and SDGs with references to world situations from 1980's; ④ To be able to explain the outline of the systems of agricultural sciences; ⑤ To be able to explain the relationship between social justice and sustainability; ⑥ To be able to evaluate and analyze traditional technologies such as irrigation development and participatory cultivar selection from the perspective of sustainability and stakeholders and propose the improvement plans; ⑦ To be able to explain the overriding influences of conflicts on agricultural sustainability, interrelationship between agricultural and military technologies, and possible path from conflict, to reconciliation and peace-building; ⑧ To be able to explain futurology and eschatology and apply them to envision the future of agriculture; ⑨ To be able to evaluate and analyze biotechnology, smart agriculture, microbiomes as cutting-edge technologies from the perspective of sustainability; ⑩ To be able to explain the ethics of agriculture, Based on the achievement goals of ①～⑩, the following goals should also be achieved. ⑪ To be able to express and generally characterize agriculture that has a special feeling for students; ⑫ To be able to explain what sustainability means to students' lives; ⑬ To be able to explain the relationship between students' world view and their vision for the future of agriculture; ⑭ To be able to list new findings in agriculture, sustainability, technologies after attending this course; ⑮ To be able to state how students themselves were inspired by the ethics of agriculture; ⑯To be able to criticize and ask questions about other students' ideas.

"The Art of Attention" explores attention as a social, cultural, and personal phenomenon, with a special focus on the concept of Radical Human Attention. Drawing on philosophical, psychological, and sociocultural perspectives, the course examines various attentional practices and their applications in everyday life, art, and social change. 「注意の技法」は、注意を社会的、文化的、個人的な現象として探求し、特にラディカル・ヒューマン・アテンションの概念に焦点を当てます。哲学的、心理学的、社会文化的な観点を取り入れ、日常生活、芸術、社会変革におけるさまざまな注意の実践とその応用を検討します。

"The Art of Attention" explores attention as a social, cultural, and personal phenomenon, with a special focus on the concept of Radical Human Attention. Drawing on philosophical, psychological, and sociocultural perspectives, the course examines various attentional practices and their applications in everyday life, art, and social change. 「注意の技法」は、注意を社会的、文化的、個人的な現象として探求し、特にラディカル・ヒューマン・アテンションの概念に焦点を当てます。哲学的、心理学的、社会文化的な観点を取り入れ、日常生活、芸術、社会変革におけるさまざまな注意の実践とその応用を検討します。

The purpose of this graduate course is to discuss Sustainability Science from Japanese perspectives showcasing various topics related to sustainability in Japan and other countries. Topics include natural disaster mitigation, aging society, biodiversity conservation, food security, pollution control, etc. Natural disasters, for example, are indispensable features to discuss human survival and sustainability, however, they are not fully elucidated in the context of Sustainability Science. Also, Japan is the first country in the 100,000 years of human history that is facing super-aging society. Japan’s experience in these fields should have great implications to disaster prone countries, rapidly aging countries and the emerging discipline of Sustainability Science. The course will also endeavor to add new implications to relatively more established academic fields like nature conservation, food policy, and coastal engineering by elucidating Japanese cases to expand the discourses of sustainable development in general. Nature conservation, for example, is largely expanding its scope in line with the notions of biodiversity, climate change and sustainable development. To protect the biodiversity and to achieve sustainable society, conventional conservation approach is not enough, and we need to include “people” in the policy and planning of protected areas. Understanding the diverse values towards sustainability is also a key component of this lecture course. Based on each local context, e.g. religion, culture, norms, history, geography, demography, polity, available resources and technology, possible solution and shape of governance would dramatically change. The students will be able to deepen the understanding of Sustainability Science by connecting this lecture course with the other compulsory lecture course “Proactive Environmental Studies I” which aims to teach the basics of Sustainability Science.