Waseda University

This course introduces the R system as a programming language. Covering standard regression methods and then tackling more advanced methods, the course guides students through the practical, powerful tools that the R system provides. The emphasis is on hands-on analysis, graphical display, and interpretation of data. By the end of the course, students are expected to have gained a mastery of using the software R to perform data analysis.  

Course enrollees are assumed to have basic knowledge of statistics and mathematics and are encouraged to install the R system onto their home computer. 

This course reads canonical works of great Japanese literature from the early twentieth century, with a focus on their perceptions of modernity. Thematically, the course is divided into two parts. The first half explores works written during the Meiji period to understand how they conceptualized 'modernity,' 'the West,' and their own identities. The writers discussed in this section include Higuchi Ichiyo, Natsume Soseki, Mori Ogai, and Nagai Kafu. The second half of the course addresses works by modernist and Marxist writers, examining how their concepts of 'modernity' and their relationships with 'the West' evolved as Japan expanded its influence into Asia. This part includes an analysis of the literary representation of modernity in the works of Tanizaki Junichiro, Yokomitsu Riichi, Hayashi Fumiko, Kobayashi Takiji, Edogawa Rampo, and Kawabata Yasunari.

All readings course are in English translation therefore the ability to read the Japanese original work is not required. Knowledge of modern Japanese history and culture is recommended. 
 

This course examines a variety of anime movies and television series featuring problems of the city, urban design, ruins, environment, and ecology as a central theme and as a source of creative inspirations. The course examines Akira, Patlabor, Ghost in the Shell, Nausicaä, Psycho-Pass, and Your Name.

The course closely analyzes and discusses each animation work (narrative, world-setting,audio-visual style, etc.) but also a wide range of critical texts on anime, urban space, environment, and ruins. This course examines why anime is an important cultural text, and what socio-political, philosophical, and ethical issues they often raise for further critical thinking.

This course explores the dynamic, culturally and historically contingent ways in which architecture and urban space are structured along the distinction between what belongs to the protected realm of the private and what is to ‘take place’ in the interpersonal sphere of the public. As the physical and experiential form of the city, it’s buildings and the character of its urban life are deeply influenced by the private/public distinction, it is important to understand these implications not only in theory, but also for urban politics, the practices of urban design and place-making as well as for everyday appropriation.