Japan

This course studies the theory and practice of humanitarian intervention. It asks, is it ever justifiable to intervene in the domestic affairs of another sovereign state? If so, when, and for what reasons? 
 
This course considers the possibility that a norm of humanitarian intervention has emerged in international society since the end of the Cold War, examining case studies of the major intervention cases that have arisen in the last twenty years: Iraq 1991, Somalia, Rwanda, Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq 2003, Darfur, Libya, and Syria. 

Operating systems (OSes) such as Linux and Windows abstract bare-metal hardware and provide a more manageable virtual computer. The history of OS is old, and the modern, commercial OS consists of many fundamental concepts and implementation technologies. This course aims to educate on the basic concepts and implementation technologies of conventional OSes and deepen an understanding of their internal structure, particularly the internal structure of Linux and Windows. If time permits, cutting-edge operating systems and techniques will also be introduced. Along with the constant change in computer usage, the functions required in the OS constantly change, thus the study of OS provides hot research topics. 

This course provides individual research training for students in the Junior Year Engineering Program through the experience of belonging to a specific laboratory at Tohoku University. Students are assigned to a laboratory with the consent of the faculty member in charge. They participate in various group activities, including seminars, for the purposes of training in research methods and developing teamwork skills. The specific topic studied depends on the instructor in charge of the laboratory to which each student is assigned. The methods of assessment vary with the student's project and laboratory instructor. Students submit an abstract concerning the results of their individual research each semester and present the results near the end of this program.

This course provides an introduction to African studies, especially to the Southern African Countries. While the African continent has significant legal, political and economic challenges, students are rarely introduced to the attempts of African states to set up structures to confront those challenges through regional integration. This course introduces students to the various legal, political, and economic regional integration initiatives in the emerging Southern African region.

The course features presentations from Ambassadors and Embassy officials of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), focusing on the variety of the economy and politics of the SADC region, as well as the relationship between Japan and each respective SADC state.  

This course uses film to examine the cultural translation of famous stories in different times and cultural settings by looking at how shifts in the narrative, images, dialogue, and translation foreground different ideas. The course looks at the expression of cultural translation in movies and the flow of translation; particularly, how a single story changes as times and cultures change. 
 
Why do some stories travel internationally, while others seem less inclined to relocate? What cultural differences are revealed--and what challenges arise--in the process of translating culturally specific texts for new audiences? How does this traffic of ideas, images, narratives and media affect the ways we understand and relate to each other across cultures? 
 
Through the medium of film, this course introduces students to two important aspects of cultural translation: 1) cultural translation as “a way for minority subjects to claim a degree of agency within a majority culture” (Hodgson, 2018), and 2) cultural translation as a process of “negotiating cultural differences” (Bachmann-Medick, 2006) that involves adapting or rewriting texts to foreground issues relevant to their new audiences (see Bahrawi 2016). 
 
Through a series of case studies ranging from Italian adaptations of Japanese Westerns to Disney fairy tales and the gothic excesses of Toho Studios' vampire films, students will discover the extent to which cultural contexts and formal demands affect the translation of a variety of film elements: from images and dialogue to tropes and narratives.

This course brings international and Japanese students to form a futsal team and enjoy the game. It provides an opportunity to learn coaching and team management skills, as well as to understand the intellectual culture of international students. This class can accommodate a maximum number of students between 50 and 72.

This course introduces methodologies in geographical research, including research design, data collection and organization, interpretation, and analysis of results. Emphases are placed on how to undertake field surveys and how to analyze geographic information by exploring topics such as urban sustainability and the impact of COVID-19 on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The course enables students to acquire familiarity with, and practice of, quantitative and qualitative research methods in urban geography. Different ways of presenting and interpreting research results from geographic perspectives will be examined. The course also explores how to draw inferences from maps, graphs, and other sources to seek spatial patterns, relationships, and connections.

By the end of this course, students will be able to:
(1) Understand the “field” – that is a complex social, environmental, and economic space in which we apprehend the world.
(2) Understand the “fieldwork” – that is a vital geographical tool for investigating the characteristics of the real world.
(3) Undertake geographical fieldwork that involves formulating a geographic inquiry question, gathering data, analyzing the results, and reaching conclusions.
(4) Understand the interconnectedness of human, social, economic, and environmental sustainability through conducting a field-based student term project.

 

This course is driven by very simple questions. What is gender? Does gender have only two categories as a man and woman? Or do we have another category? Sexual minorities have been growing in many countries as a worldwide debate ensues over their rights. The difficulty of legalization for same-sex marriage or prejudice and discrimination for sexual minorities remain around the world.

In Samoan culture, a “Third Gender” category exists for a biological man who considers himself as a woman. However, people of Samoa strongly insist that Samoan ways of “Third Gender” are not the same as “gay” or “transgender” as they are understood in the West.  Through reading Margaret Mead’s “Coming Age of Samoa,” this course addresses these inquiries and their differences. 

This course covers supply chain strategy and concepts by focusing on a few Japanese cases, providing the class with a solid understanding of the tools and techniques necessary to solve supply chain problems. The course covers key drivers of supply chain performance such as forecasting demand, logistics and transportation, decision-making tools, information, and sourcing. 

This class provides a forum for students to discuss issues of education, development, and globalization. Seminars will be held with various development organizations. The colloquium theme will vary and include such topics as globalization of Asian models of educational development, democratization and education, etc.