Events
Events

Seminar 1: New Directions of US-Japan Higher Education Cooperation in the Globalizing World: In the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake

In the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake, nations around the globe immediately dispatched support to Japan for relief and reconstruction efforts. In particular, the enduring strength of US-Japan bilateral relations is evident in the continuous support received by Japan from the US. The immediate outpour of support through international cooperation for Japan highlights the importance of fostering and further cultivating global partnerships and illustrates the necessity to establish organizations and policies to promote and fortify both bilateral relations and international cooperation in various sectors including higher education. This seminar will discuss new directions of US-Japan higher education cooperation, such as international cooperation on global issues through US-Japan higher education collaboration, linking Asian regional higher education framework with North American higher education, and a renewed commitment to mutual academic and educational exchanges between the US and Japan.

[summary]
[summary: Japanese Version]

Moderator & Presenter

Dr. Kazuo Kuroda, Professor, Graduate School of Asia-Pacific Studies, Waseda University/Dean, Center for International Education, Waseda University
Presentation Material (1.0MB)

Commentators

Dr. Saya Shiraishi, Professor, The University of Tokyo
Presentation Material (1.7MB)
Dr. N'dri Assie-Lumumba, Professor, Cornell University
Dr. James Williams, Associate Professor, George Washington University

Seminar 2: Reconstruction and Beyond: The Great East Japan Earthquake and Its Impact on an Aging Japan

Seminar 2 will discuss the mid-to-long term impact of the Great East Japan Earthquake on Japan. Three experts in the fields of Japan's labor economy, legal and administrative system and social-security system will analyze the earthquake's implications for various aspects of the post 3.11 Japanese society and economy, particularly in the context of a Japan that is rapidly aging. The experts will try to offer some suggestions as to what policies Japan needs to adopt to meet the enormous challenges posed by the earthquake amidst an aging society.

[summary]
[summary: Japanese Version]

Moderator

Prof. Naoyuki Agawa, Vice Chair, USJI/Vice President (International Collaboration & Education), Keio University

Panelists

Prof. Atsushi Seike, President, Keio University/Member, The Reconstruction Design Council in the Great East Japan Earthquake
Prof. John Creighton Campbell, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, University of Michigan/Visiting Scholar, Institute of Gerontology Tokyo University
Presentation Material
Prof. Mark Ramseyer, Mitsubishi Professor of Japanese Legal Studies, Harvard Law School, Harvard University
Presentation Material

Collaborated Lecture 1: Reconstruction and Beyond: The Great East Japan Earthquake and Its Implications

* This lecture is open to the public.
* Please RSVP here by September 7th, Wednesday, 2011.

[Summary]
[Summary: Japanese Version]

Co-Sponsored: George Washington University

Seminar 3: Technologies against disaster

Since the industrial revolution, the development of technology has been a search for convenience. Convenience can be measured in terms of the efficient use of time, space or energy. Faster, bigger or smaller were the goals. First, in terms of material-energy, and more recently, in terms of communication-information, convenience has become real. Technology has made it possible for non-winged mankind to fly in the sky. It has shown the ultimate limits of space and the world at its most detailed. It saves sick people that would not have ordinarily survived in the past. It has made it possible to run on the ground faster than 300 kilometers per hour. It is now possible to talk with people walking on a street on the other side of the globe. In other words, technology has made true the dreams of mankind to surpass temporal, spatial or intellectual limits. We are becoming supermen.
Our dreams are steadily becoming part of reality, and yet so many continue to feel a kind of discomfort. The trial of whether or not new technology will be able to eradicate this feeling is starting. The kind of technology that can do that will be the kind that recognizes the limits of human life and is focused on human beings who answer their existentialist impulses. It will be evaluated in terms of safety and security, not efficiency. We have learned the importance of such thought from the many disasters that have happened all over the world, including the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011 and the successive troubles at the nuclear power stations.
This seminar will focus on what technology can do against disasters and also what science can do in the future to make all people feel and live at ease as precious members of our society, the earth and the universe.

[summary]
[summary: Japanese Version]

Moderator

Dr. Shuji Hashimoto, Vice Chair, USJI/Vice President, Waseda University/Professor, Department of Pure and Applied Physics, Graduate School of Advanced Science and Engineering, Waseda University
Presentation Material (1.6MB)

Panelists

Seminar 4: US, Japan, and China Trilateral Trade Imbroglio: What is after the East Japan Great Earthquake?

How will the East Japan Great Earthquake (3.11) affect trade discussions in Asia Pacific region? Will Japan become more inward-looking solely focusing on domestic reconstruction of East Japan and therefore miss opportunities to lead East Asian economic cooperation and to join Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP)? Or will Japan utilize multilateral regional economic frameworks for its own reconstruction? Are US, Japan, and China triangular relations already things in the past to determine the landscape of regional economic grouping and will US and China go their own ways leaving Japan alone?

[Summary]
[Summary: Japanese Version]

Moderator

Presenters

Prof. Susumu Yamagami, Vice President, Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University
Presentation Material
Dr. Hironori Sasada, Associate Professor, Ritsumeikan University
Presentation Material

Discussant

Seminar 5: Restoring Local Lives, Cities and Regions: Looking at the Post-Disaster Restoration and Exploring Alternative Planning Approaches for the Future

Tohoku region had a rather stable social base. Her economy was diversified such as agriculture, fishery, food processing industries, medium and small manufacturing, automobile-parts suppliers, electronics, high quality handicrafts, tourism and cultural activities and so on. The great east Japan earthquake of 3.11 and its associated tsunami attacks have caused massive devastations in this region, whose damages vary a lot according to geographical patterns, topographic features and local socio-economic situations as well. Experiencing a range of destructions of cities, regions, human habitats and even their cultural heritages, this seminar aims at re-examining conventional city design praxis and exploring possibilities of alternative planning approaches not only to the restorations but also to the prevention planning for repetitive hazards in future.

The great earthquake and its associated tsunami on the east Tohoku coasts have raised a number of unexpected and unforeseeable issues that can have an impact not only on the confined regions but also on a wide area including the capitol city. It is realistic to imagine that the latest catastrophe will have a strong impact on the vision of the future of many Japanese cities and regions. Possibly the efforts for developing and implementing new plans and policies for more secure and durable human settlements will be accelerated and the choice of safer places where to live will sharply increase. The roles of post-disaster restoration and disaster-prevention planning are expected to project a paradigm of safe, balanced and durable life. Undoubtedly the arrival of newcomers could be beneficial, especially if they are young and skilled people, etc. with their families. At the same time it could originate a number of unexpected and undesirable problems.

If these thoughts have some base and are at least partly shared by many cities in the world, it would be important to use the opportunity of this seminar to explore a number of these issues that in any case are very relevant for the future of city.

[summary]
[summary: Japanese Version]

Moderator

Dr. Takashi Ariga, Professor, Department of Architecture, Graduate School of Creative Science and Engineering, Waseda University
Presentation Material (10.8MB)

Panelists

Dr. Eran Ben-Joseph, Professor Head, Joint Program in City Design & Development MIT School of Architecture + Planning
Presentation Material (5.7MB)
Dr. Peter Bosselmann, Professor of Urban Design in Architecture, City & Regional Planning, and Landscape Architecture; Co-Chair, Master of Urban Design Program, College of Environmental Design, University of California, Berkeley

Social Networking Reception (Invitation only)

We will organize a Social Networking Reception aiming to connect researchers and students from 5 founder universities and people in Washington, D.C. area.

Open House

Introduction about USJI activities and suggestion for possible cooperation with your organization or group

Application
Please RSVP (acceptances only) to USJI Washington Office
by emailing usjp0914@us-jpri.org

Host

Collaborated Lecture 2: Japan and the Asian Power Shift

* This lecture is open to the public.

[summary]
[summary: Japanese Version]

Organized by:

U.S.-JAPAN Research Institute (USJI)

Supported by:

Keio University, Kyoto University, Ritsumeikan University,
The University of Tokyo, Waseda University