In this seminar we practice foundational ways of thinking about the complex relationship between digital technology and society, with a focus on recent developments in software such as AI and automated decision-making and their underlying technical infrastructures. How do artificial intelligence and the pervasive use of algorithms affect culture and society? How is the need for rare earths to drive chip production connected to geopolitical shifts and conflicts? The seminar combines readings of recent studies in software studies and science and technology studies with hands-on exercises.

This graduate-level seminar provides a comprehensive exploration of contemporary media and communication studies, emphasizing the intricate relationship between theory and practice in our rapidly evolving digital landscape. The course navigates key paradigms in media and cultural studies, from classic frameworks to cutting-edge concepts, equipping students with a robust theoretical foundation while encouraging critical engagement with real-world media phenomena. Through in-depth readings, lively discussions, and applied analysis, students will develop the critical thinking skills necessary to interrogate complex media texts, platforms, and practices using a range of theoretical approaches. By bridging the gap between abstract ideas and concrete media practices, the course prepares students to understand the historical development and current state of media and communication studies, apply theoretical frameworks to emerging technologies, and develop original research questions that contribute to the field. This seminar serves as a foundation for fostering the ability to engage in informed discussions about the role of media in shaping society, culture, and individual experiences. Students will emerge from the course well-equipped to analyze and interpret the complex media ecosystems that characterize our contemporary world, laying the groundwork for advanced research and analysis in the field.

This course provides a critical and interdisciplinary overview of the major legal and political developments that have shaped - and continue to shape - Japanese society. Drawing on perspectives from political science, law, history, and sociology, the course emphasizes both top-down and bottom-up processes in Japanese governance. It focuses on how law operates within society, particularly through constitutional, criminal, and civil law. However, the aim is not to analyze these laws in isolation, but to explore how they function within the social fabric of Japan. Law is a fundamental aspect of everyday life in all societies: it provides predictability, helps avoid anarchy, and secures cooperation among members of society by prioritizing the common good over individual gain (law as a tool for stability in society). Law is also a tool for action when people or groups feel excluded, discriminated against, or believe they are being treated unjustly (law as a tool for social change). This course examines the central features of Japan's legal system, viewing law as a social institution and exploring its relationship with other societal systems. We will focus on the role of key actors in the legal system and the interplay between social stability, and change. Additionally, the course emphasizes the relationship between law and broader economic, political, and social processes. From the perspective of the sociology of law (or socio-legal studies), we will examine how law serves as both a practical resource for addressing social issues (a tool for change) and a set of shared representations and aspirations (for stability). The course will explore how legal professionals (lawyers, judges, law enforcement officers) and ordinary citizens mobilize and use law. Due to time constraints, we cannot cover every aspect of Japan’s legal system or every actor involved. Instead, we will focus on key topics that illustrate the situational and systemic demands placed on actors within the legal system. At the same time, we will seek to identify patterns in how law interacts with and influences society. Some of the topics we will address include Japan’s exceptional record in economic development, crime control, and its low litigation rate. These topics exemplify why Japan's legal system is so efficient; not only by examining how it functions today, but also by tracing its historical roots and understanding why it evolved in this way. We will also address topics such as the death penalty, wrongful convictions, same-sex marriage, and other areas of social activism where law is used to drive social change. These topics reflect the "reverse side of the coin," where law may not function effectively, and social activism seeks to change the situation. In sum, we will analyze the actual evolution of the rule of law in both the past and present, with an eye on the future of Japan and its place in a globalizing world. Therefore, this course combines methodologies from the sociology of law and legal history. We will also critically assess the limitations of law in Japan, asking which social issues remain unresolved by the legal system. Is Japan’s legal system an example for other countries to follow, or not? Ultimately, the goal is to critically examine both the merits and flaws of Japan's legal system in an informed and balanced manner. By studying how conflicts are resolved, how social order is maintained, how movements for social change emerge, and how legal frameworks operate within Japan’s socio-political context, students will develop a comprehensive understanding of Japan’s legal system from the Meiji era (1868–1945) to the present day. Each class will begin with a methodological introduction, providing students with tools from the sociology of law, followed by the analysis of primary materials (e.g., court decisions, political speeches, legislative texts, personal diaries) and secondary readings that offer academic context.

情報科学技術が作り出した情報社会の現状とそのあり得るべき姿、情報科学技術の発展の方向性などについて、様々な観点から学び考える。具体的には、以下のようなテーマを扱う。 情報倫理 技術者倫理・技術倫理 人工知能倫理・シンギュラリティ メディアリテラシー ソーシャルメディア 個人情報保護・パーソナルデータ 特許 著作権 行動科学 情報教育 ------ We learn and think about the current state of the information society created by information science and technology, its possible forms, and the direction of development of information science and technology from various perspectives. Specifically, the following themes will be covered. Information Ethics Ethics of engineers and technology Artificial intelligence ethics and singularity Media literacy Social Media Privacy and Personal Data Patents Copyright Behavioral Science Information Education

• Demonstrate a clear grasp of the core concepts, such as globalisation, Anthropocene, planetarity or earth, and contending definitions of them. • Distinguish between the economic, political, cultural, sociological, philosophical and ethical dimensions of these notions and articulate an analytic understanding of how they interact. • Analyse and identify the ways in which human and non-human actors attempt to reverse or modify ongoing global and planetary processes. • Appreciate the normative dimension of the state of the earth and what it takes to change it. • Critically engage different philosophical arguments about the ethical desirability of possible futures.

情報科学技術が作り出した情報社会の現状とそのあり得るべき姿、情報科学技術の発展の方向性などについて、様々な観点から学び考える。具体的には、以下のようなテーマを扱う。 情報倫理 技術者倫理・技術倫理 人工知能倫理・シンギュラリティ メディアリテラシー ソーシャルメディア 個人情報保護・パーソナルデータ 特許 著作権 行動科学 情報教育 ------ We learn and think about the current state of the information society created by information science and technology, its possible forms, and the direction of development of information science and technology from various perspectives. Specifically, the following themes will be covered. Information Ethics Ethics of engineers and technology Artificial intelligence ethics and singularity Media literacy Social Media Privacy and Personal Data Patents Copyright Behavioral Science Information Education

深層学習に代表される人工知能（AI）技術が飛躍的に発展し、社会のあらゆる場面でAIの実応用が進み、学術研究の場でも分野を問わずAI活用が進んでいます。本講義では、このように様々な分野にまたがったAIの応用例を概観しつつ、ユーザの立場から、AI技術とのかかわり方やより身近な活用の仕方を学ぶことを目標とします。 人文・社会科学系から農学・医学・理工系までの，AIや情報を専門としない学生を第一のターゲットとします．またAIや情報を専門とする学生も，実応用やユーザ視点を学ぶと共に異分野交流の機会を得られるので有益です．具体的には、AIとは何かについて概観したあと，AI技術の中核である視覚AI、対話AI（ChatGPT）などの概要を学び，次にそれらが人文社会・法・理・医・工・農などの分野において、どのように実装し活用されているかを、各分野の専門家から学びます。また、受講生自身がAIユーザとなって、GPT4やStable Diffusion など最先端なツールの活用・評価などを行う課題発表やディスカッションも行います。これらの講義と実践の内容は，人文社会系等の学生でも抵抗なく取り組めるよう，教養課程を越える数理・情報・プログラミング等の知識・経験は前提としません． Thanks to the astonishing advancement of technologies relating to deep learning and big data, artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping many aspects of the society. This course will deliver overviews of recent applications of AI in a variety of fields, through which one might get to know state-of-the-art AI technologies better and, hopefully, to utilize them for his/her own tasks. This course is targeting on students from departments in literature, social science, agriculture, medical science et al., without requiring expertise in informatics and AI. In spite of that, students in informatics are also welcomed, since it is beneficial to know recent applications of AI and to communicate with people beyond informatics through this course. Specifically, after brief introductions of AI’s history and advancement in the deep learning era, invited experts in literature, social science, medical science et al., will introduce the latest applications of AI in a specific domain. As potential users of AI technologies and products, all students in this lecture are encouraged to experience recent off-the-shelf AI tools, like GPT4 and Stable Diffusion, without heavy programming loads.

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. This is not a heavy lecture based course but rather a seminar, discussion, and hands-on practical class where you will do a lot of learning by doing. You will be working in teams a lot and each week there will be a subject to discuss, learn and try.

This course is designed to help each student who has no or little technical background to acquire basic knowledge, skills, and self-confidence which are necessary to live as a responsible citizen in this information age and to have a foundation for better understand of problems in modern Asian societies that are increasingly dependent on information and communication technologies. Recent advancement of smartphones, AI, and various cloud services has made it much easier to use the fruits of these technologies, but to use them appropriately and securely, it is essential to understand the underlying technologies and systems that are not directly visible. This course aims to deepen this understanding through lectures accompanied by hands-on sessions.

This lecture series provides an overview of what the academic genre of ethnography has achieved over the past century or so. Although ethnographic monographs have also been written by scholars of various disciplines, this lecture series focuses on sociocultural anthropologists’ endeavors. Rather than discussing the possibilities and limitations of ethnography abstractly, the aim of this course is to provide a perspective on what an ethnography have (and have not) accomplished, by discussing critically two or three ethnographic monographs, many but not all of which are in the context of Asia, each time, both locating them in academic and social contexts of the time and and relating them to various ongoing debates.