Aug 19, 2024

Contemporary Garden City Concept from Asia

The course focuses on contemporary urban planning issues, particularly the Garden City concept, addressing the global trend of integrating green spaces into cities to combat environmental challenges. Cities worldwide are striving to introduce green elements regardless of location, driven by concerns such as climate change, natural disasters, and political instability. The course discusses the transition from traditional urban structures to dispersed green matrices, emphasizing the importance of green spaces in enhancing their resilience. It contrasts Western cities' vertical agricultural integration with historical Japanese cities' horizontal integration, advocating for a new approach to urban agriculture. Let's consider the concept of a contemporary Garden City, focusing on the symbiotic relationship between urban and rural land uses. Through a mixture of theoretical discussion and practical examples, this course explores strategies for realizing this urban planning vision. The course is offered in Japanese and English and is available at all times. Anyone can take the course from the Coursera website.

Makoto Yokohari (Professor, The School of Engineering) Akito Murayama (Professor, Ph.D. in Urban Engineering, Department of Urban Engineering, School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo) Toru Terada (Associate Professor, Department of Natural Environment Studies) Kimihiro Hino (Associate Professor, Department of Urban Engineering) and 4 member(s).

Feb 28, 2022

Transnational Studies - Japan and the World

The contemporary world is marked by a curious state of tension. On the one hand, it is deeply globalized, with goods, people, culture and ideas circulating across borders on an unprecedented scale. Neither can two of the major crises we are facing, climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic, be contained on the level of individual states. Yet, nation states are still the most powerful political entities in the world, and nationalism is resurging, mobilizing the imagination and aspirations of people everywhere. Academic knowledge, too, is still often aligned with national borders and categories. Transnational studies is an interdisciplinary field that lives in the interstices of this tension. It reflects on why the “nation” has come to have such a powerful grip on the human imagination and social organization. It offers approaches that follow the historical and contemporary movement of ideas, things, people and practices beyond (= “trans”) national borders, explores how they are transformed along the way, and analyzes what enables and limits these movements. In this course, you will gain foundational knowledge about how to think transnationally. An initial module which introduces key concepts and approaches in transnational studies will be followed by four modules that use concrete case studies centered on Japan to spotlight how the transnational can be fruitfully employed across different disciplines, from history to sustainability studies. In doing so, the course offers foundational knowledge in how to navigate the complexities of our globalized world.

Michael FACIUS (Associate Professor, TOKYO COLLEGE, The University of Tokyo) Hannah DAHLBERG-DODD (Project Assistant Professor, TOKYO COLLEGE, The University of Tokyo) HANEDA Masashi (Project Professor, TOKYO COLLEGE, The University of Tokyo) Marcin Pawel Jarzebski (Project Assistant Professor, TOKYO COLLEGE, The University of Tokyo)

Feb 5, 2026

Visual and auditory perception - How we see and hear the external world

In this course, we will explore the mechanisms of sensory information processing and the distinctive features of vision and hearing from the perspective of cognitive neuroscience. Light from the external world enters the eyes and becomes a mental experience of “seeing,” and sound entering the ears becomes the experience of hearing. These processes involve converting physical stimuli into neural activity in the brain. The course features video materials such as a dissection experiment using a pig’s eyeball, EEG recordings with human participants, and a field experiment demonstrating the mosquito sound phenomenon. Each sensory organ will also be explained three-dimensionally using 3D computer graphics. Please note: The lecture includes footage of a pig’s eyeball dissection, which may be uncomfortable for some viewers.

Jun 6, 2024

The Power of Words

This course examines how words retain power amidst crises, focusing on Japanese and English literature. It explores how words aid in resilience and self-renewal. Emphasis is placed on understanding the role of form in texts and socia interactions to deepen comprehension of expression mechanisms. Students of this course can learn the history of English and Japanese literature, particularly in terms of form as well as how the forms work in written texts and human relationships.