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, 19 July 2022 5:00−6:40pm JST / 9:00am-10:40am BST

We invite you to discuss an international bestseller Who Cooked Adam Smith's Dinner? with its author Katrine Marçal and a group of Tokyo College researchers.

Tuesday, 12 July 2022, 1:00-2:45 pm (Doors open: 12:30 pm)

The war in Ukraine has shaken our confidence in peace and prosperity within Europe and beyond. What is needed to overcome such a crisis in international relations? H.E. Herman Van Rompuy, President Emeritus of the European Council, leads the discussion by sharing his insights on the future of Europe and Japan which will be followed by Q&A sessions with students and others.

Available Friday, 24 June 2022 after 5PM

In this event, disability advocates Judy Heumann and Mark Bookman discuss the past, present, and future of accessibility and inclusion in the United States and Japan. Touching on barriers in built environments, education, employment, and entertainment systems, as well as activist movements and anti-discrimination policies, the two help to highlight a path towards creating a more diverse society in which nobody is excluded.

Thursday, 23 June 2022, 4:00-5:30 pm (Doors open: 3:30 pm)

In 2022, we are commemorating the centennial of Marcel Proust's death with an extraordinary salvo of publications, exhibitions, and acclamations. “Proust is the man of the year,” advertised the Italian magazine La Repubblica on New Year’s Day. It gives us an occasion to evaluate the magnitude of his novel, Remembrance of Things Past or In Search of Lost Time, and also to compare this anniversary with the previous one, 1971, a century after Proust’s birth. His star hasn’t stopped rising.

Available Early June 2022 (on Tokyo College YouTube Channel)

It has been said that by executing algorithms in the same way, there is no difference between the human brain and AI (artificial intelligence). Is this really the case? What does it mean to be “human”? To be an “AI”? What can current AI do and not do?
In anticipation of a future in which humans and AI coexist, we discuss what we should keep in mind and what we can do to prepare.

Tuesday, 7 June 2022, 4:00-5:30 pm (Doors open: 3:30pm)

Why do we need to rethink about the way we study and make sense of global diplomacy? In this lecture, I explore how cultural approaches can illuminate important aspects of diplomacy which have not been adequately considered in much of the existing scholarly literature.

Friday, 20 May 2022, 12:00-12:45 pm (JST)/ Thursday May 19 at 10:00-10:45pm (CDT)

Tokyo College hosted a series of interviews with researchers about their efforts to promote equity for International Women’s Day in March 2021 and March 2022. This May, we would like to continue these efforts beyond Women’s Day and invite Ksenia Zolotareva, the Women@JP Career Pillar Lead at Google Japan, to speak about strategies for increasing female talent in the paid workforce in Japan.

Friday, 13 May 2022, 15:00-16:30 (Doors open: 14:40）

This talk describes three phases of globalisation that have occupied the last five centuries and their role in making the world we know today. The first two phases were associated with the rise of Western empires, which integrated large parts of the world through a process of compulsory globalisation. The third phase, which began after 1945, brought empires to an end and produced the current world order - and disorder.

10 May 2022, 3:00-4:30 pm (Doors open: 2:40 pm)

Recent years have featured the US-China trade war, the coronavirus pandemic, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, each of which we can consider “radically uncertain” events that were not in any real sense predictable. This lecture seeks to identify how these events fit into conventional frameworks for explaining the world, how these events might have changed that framework, what elements of the framework remain unknown, and how we should respond to this age of uncertainty.

Friday, 22 April 2022 (available from 4:00pm JST)

How is the Russian invasion of Ukraine being reported around the world? How do people perceive these reports? And how are governments responding? In this series, we interview experts on regions outside of the United States and Europe on issues surrounding the current crisis.

Wednesday, 20 April 2022 (available from 1:00pm JST)

How is the Russian invasion of Ukraine being reported around the world? How do people perceive these reports? And how are governments responding? In this series, we interview experts on regions outside of the United States and Europe on issues surrounding the current crisis.

Wednesday, 13 April 2022 (available from 1:00pm JST)

How is the Russian invasion of Ukraine being reported around the world? How do people perceive these reports? And how are governments responding? In this series, we interview experts on regions outside of the United States and Europe on issues surrounding the current crisis.