Mar 4, 2019

Contemporary Japanese Society: What Has Been Happening Behind Demographic Change?

The main aim of this course is to give an overview of how contemporary Japanese society has been stratified, from the perspective of changing demographic, familial, and socio-economic structure. Basic statistics will be presented to provide a concrete idea of the changes that have taken place in Japan. By the end of the course, students should have an awareness of similarities and differences across nations regarding social issues including ageing population, gender gaps in work and family, and socio-economic inequalities.

SHIRAHASE Sawako (Professor, Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology, The University of Tokyo)

Oct 10, 2015

Visualizing Postwar Tokyo, Part 2

The history of postwar Tokyo reveals an essential feature of the modern city, i.e. the city as a place of visualities. In postwar Tokyo, countless gazes fell upon others; gazes from and upon Americans and the Emperor, gazes going up skyscrapers or rushing aggressively through the cityscape, and gazes twining and wriggling among classes, genders, and ethnic groups in downtown Tokyo. In Part 2, we will focus on the geopolitics of these gazes in modern Tokyo. What kinds of gazes fell upon the war orphans, the poor, and the marginalized groups in Tokyo? How did students themselves, who represented the vast accumulation of knowledge in Tokyo, perform in front of these gazes? Moreover, how did cinema or television shows, as media for these gazes, implicate the whole city? In answering these questions, we will identify the geopolitics historically involved in the practice of “visualizing postwar Tokyo.”

YOSHIMI Shunya (Professor, Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies, The University of Tokyo)

Nov 18, 2015

Welcome to Game Theory

This course provides a brief introduction to game theory. Our main goal is to understand the basic ideas behind the key concepts in game theory, such as equilibrium, rationality, and cooperation. The course uses very little mathematics, and it is ideal for those who are looking for a conceptual introduction to game theory. Business competition, political campaigns, the struggle for existence by animals and plants, and so on, can all be regarded as a kind of “game,” in which individuals try to do their best against others. Game theory provides a general framework to describe and analyze how individuals behave in such “strategic” situations. This course focuses on the key concepts in game theory, and attempts to outline the informal basic ideas that are often hidden behind mathematical definitions. Game theory has been applied to a number of disciplines, including economics, political science, psychology, sociology, biology, and computer science. Therefore, a warm welcome is extended to audiences from all fields who are interested in what game theory is all about.

Aug 27, 2024

Learn How to Teach by 6 Min. Micro Teaching

How should we work on class design and improvement? This is a program to learn specifically how to design and improve classes through the creation of a 6-minute microteaching class. The program is designed for current and prospective teachers from elementary to higher education, and can be completed in three weeks. The program is designed to help learners understand the significance of the “6-minute microteaching class,” and practice the necessary knowledge and theory based on the “ADDIE Model,” a concept for creating such classes, through a variety of work (hands-on experience). Then, through creating a graphic class design and a class design sheet, learners design and conduct a microteaching class. Afterwards, learners will review the microteaching class and work on improvement. In addition to watching videos and completing worksheets (individual work), the course also emphasizes the expansion and deepening of learning through interaction with other learners in the learning community, such as discussion forums.

KURITA Kayoko (Professor, Graduate School of Education, The University of Tokyo)