Anne Mette Fisker-Nielsen

The Major in Global Japan Studies is also a Major in Sociology and Anthropology with reference to Japanese society and with a focus on the intersection of the local-global context. Few societies, including Japan, can be fully understood without considering how social phenomena intercept with their global contexts. In this study program, we take account of the historical, socio-political and economic changes but focus on contemporary social issues and people's actual social practices. To be able to do so students will learn from social anthropological research methodologies and studies, which are based on long-term and in-depth empirical research. Such studies provide insights into actual social practices. We consider for example the extent to which human emotions (at the core of our experience) are socially constructed, and how what may be thought of as `normal` and `natural` behavior link to particular socially constructed moralities and hierarchies of power. Understanding normalized behavior and implicit rules are key to understanding human societies including wider issues of conflict and peace.

While we take wider structural analyses into account, our focus is on analyzing how actual norms and attitudes are practiced by people in their everyday, embodied, symbolic and ritualized behavior, and how such behavior and `common sense` link to power hierarchies of gender and race, lived morality and implicit rules, norms, and values. In this way, we link the micro and the macro to understand the formation, change and continuous construction of identity within the modern Japanese nation-state while studying how this `national project` always mediates its own domestic concerns and politics while intercepting with global politics and narratives.

Japan is a diverse place, and issues of identity run through everything we study - gender, popular culture, consumption, schooling and class, migration, work and political cultures, public and moral sensibilities, politics and protest movements, religion and media and so on. We do so by asking questions that may at first appear simple such as - “what does it mean to be a morally good person in Japan”, and “how and why does that differ for women and men” and “with what consequences”; or “how may senses of moral being intertwine with consumer behavior, work ethics or political protest movements”. We consider Japanese religious movements and the complex concept of `religion` and its equally complex idea of the `secular` and the specific ways they become central to modern political ideas about identity and what becomes considered Japanese culture. We consider how mainstream, tabloid and social media play into constructing particular realities about and for people; and the extent to which such `realities` are confirmed or contested. We also look at Japan in a geopolitical context, in relation to the US, China, and South Korea, and consider the use of historical memory and discourses of Pacifism in relation to Japan's role in the world today (Seminar 2). Seminar 2 will end with a field trip to Okinawa in early February (for those who wish to attend).

The Major is taught in English and we use English in class discussions, but Japanese can be used outside of class. Japanese resources can also be used but must be discussed in English.

In terms 3 and 4, we begin by looking at wider flows and processes of current nationalism and populist politics, gender, and race, while the student will in term 3 also develop their own research theme, and work on designing a research project to go on to undertake interviews or fieldwork as appropriate. This research will become the basis for their graduation thesis. Students in the past have researched themes such as Working Culture, Homelessness and Masculinity, School Lunch and Disciplining Morality, Youth Suicide and Media, Class, Migration and Inequality, Issues of Religion and Faith, Gender and Relationships.

Teacher Profile
Anne Mette Fisker-Nielsen, Ph.D. (Social Anthropology, SOAS, University of London). Anne Mette's research focuses on Japanese society, politics and religion, popular culture, gender, youth and young people engaging in politics. She has a long-standing interest in Japanese Society, Social Theory and Theory in Anthropology, and Comparative Cultures which she teaches at Soka University. Her long-term first-hand research focus on various topics in Japanese society including elections, youth engament and issues of 'peace', focusing specifically on the political party Komeito and the Buddhist organisation Soka Gakkai, and also has done long-term firsthand research in Okinawa. Her current research topics are on gender, youth and generational change, politics and emotions, debates within Critical Religion in the context of Japan, and on contemporary Soka Gakkai youth. https://researchmap.jp/7000026614

The Major in Peace Studies

SungYong Lee

 

The academic field of Peace and Conflict Studies is primarily concerned with an analysis of the origins and nature of violent conflict within and between societies, and with understanding the means to achieve a sustainable and just peace. The Peace Studies Major is designed to equip students with the ability to critically evaluate significant scholarly work in these fields and foster their ability to initiate and carry out their own research projects.

This major will specifically encompass the following learning areas:

• The main theories and approaches in the field of peace and conflict research.
• The key areas of debate on the causes and resolution of conflict, and contemporary peace-making and peacebuilding practice 

• A range of approaches to conflict resolution and peacebuilding 

• Making theoretically informed and empirically based arguments, and relating theoretical 
models to real world issues of peace and conflict. 

• Argumentation, analytical, writing, collaboration and presentation skills.
• Conducting independent research and awareness of difference research methods in the social sciences.

 

While the curriculum will incorporate a broad range of examples and case studies from across the globe, it will primarily focus on the Asia Pacific region.

The seminar modules are structured to progressively enhance students’ knowledge and skills. Seminars I and II will offer a critical review of selected works by prominent thinkers and scholars in the field of Peace Studies, on various peace-related topics. In-class sessions will incorporate the exchanges of students’ own understanding of the chosen texts and group discussions on related questions. Based on the in-class discussions, moreover, students will develop short statements that summarise their perspectives. The level of discussions will target 2^nd and 3^rd year undergraduate students.

Seminars III and IV aim to empower students to design and execute their own research projects. The content of these two seminars will prompt students to explore different academic research approaches and examine key components of research projects based on the research types. Subsequently, each student will learn how to devise a research plan for their individual project. These seminars primarily target 4^th year students who will need to develop their dissertations although it is open to other students. This major will adopt English as its operational language.

 

Teacher Profile

SungYong Lee (Ph.D. in International Relations, University of St. Andrews)

Dr Lee’s research primarily centres on conflict resolution, third-party mediation, post-conflict reconstruction, and post-liberal models of peacebuilding, with a geographical focus on Southeast Asia. A few keywords that he is currently working on include local ownership of peacebuilding, faith-based peacebuilding, community resilience, everyday peace, and social reconciliation in post-violent societies. He has been serving various academic or professional bodies including the International Studies Association (ISA, Peace Studies Section) and the Royal Society of New Zealand (Otago Regional Committee). Prior to involving the academic research, he had engaged with local peacebuilding programmes in India, Afghanistan and Cambodia as a field practitioner.

 

In this course, students will develop their ability to consider and discuss topics philosophically, and cultivate their ability to interact and create in order to think appropriately about the various problems we face. We believe that these skills are essential for practicing good value creation in any situation or field. In the exercises, we plan to consult with the students and refer to literature related to contemporary analytic philosophy, which is the specialty of the faculty member in charge (examples of topics: good and evil, justice and injustice, compassion and other virtues, philosophy and science/religion, existence, knowledge, faith, suicide/suicide, and etc.) In addition, numerous tutorials will be conducted by faculty and students, emphasizing the process of thorough conversation and discussion until students "get it" and "clearly get it".
 

Seminars in philosophy for AKADEMIA consist in two essential parts.

 

First, students and the instructor study together some key topics in various areas of philosophy, such as epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, philosophy of language, philosophy of science, political philosophy, and aesthetics. The purpose of this part is to expand participants’ academic interests and make them aware of the various interconnections between sub-fields of philosophy, as well as the connections between philosophy and other relevant subjects.

 

The topics this seminar group may deal with includes the following:

 

- The objectivity of morality and value judgements

- The meaning of moral/evaluative terms

- Causation

- Self-identity

- Knowledge and evidence

- Reasons for belief

- The value of art (including visit to Tokyo Fuji Art Museum)

- Philosophy for children (including visit to Tokyo Soka Elementary School)

- Death and suicide

 

Second, students choose some philosophical topics and undertake their own research while the instructor support their study and research. The ultimate goal of this part of the activity is to write final theses which are the requirement for graduation. This part of the seminar activity is conducted through tutorials. A tutorial is a meeting by very small number of people, in some cases just only one student and one instructor, in other cases a few students (two or three) and one instructor.

 

Here is a list of the topics past students in philosophy seminar wrote for their final theses.

 

- Morality and luck

- The value of tragedy

- The knowledge of the existence of God (primary through Thomas Aquinas’s work)

- Mereology

- Happiness/wellbeing

- Human nature

- The possibility of perceiving the emotions

- Cosmopolitanism

- Ethics for autonomous driving/cars

- AI and the emotions

- Friendship and its duty

- John Dewey’s ethics

 

The instructor’s expertise is philosophy and students who are interested in any parts of the subject (including the history of philosophy/ideas/thoughts, and also some topics from eastern traditions such as Buddhism) are welcome. The instructor is also interested in the philosophical aspects of the key founding figures of the university, especially Tsunesaburo Makiguchi and Daisaku Ikeda, and anyone who is interested in those figures from the philosophical perspective is also welcome.

 

 

Teacher’s profile

 

Ryo Chonabayashi (Ph.D. in Philosophy, Cardiff University)

 

Ryo Chonabayashi’s main research area is metaethics, a theoretical part of ethics/moral philosophy in which various foundational questions about morality and value are asked, such as whether morality and evaluative judgements have any objectivity or not. He has been working on how moral values causally connect with various empirical phenomena, such as some general patterns of people’s moral judgements and social stability/instability. He is also interested in how some Buddhist ideas and thoughts can be relevant to contemporary philosophical issues. About his research, please see his Researchmap page (https://researchmap.jp/r.chonabayashi?lang=en).

Anne Mette Fisker-Nielsen, Ph.D. (Social Anthropology, SOAS, University of London). Anne Mette's research focuses on Japanese society, politics and religion, popular culture, gender, youth and young people engaging in politics. She has a long-standing interest in Japanese Society, Social Theory and Theory in Anthropology, and Comparative Cultures which she teaches at Soka University. Her long-term first-hand research focus on various topics in Japanese society including elections, youth engament and issues of 'peace', focusing specifically on the political party Komeito and the Buddhist organisation Soka Gakkai, and also has done long-term firsthand research in Okinawa. Her current research topics are on gender, youth and generational change, politics and emotions, debates within Critical Religion in the context of Japan, and on contemporary Soka Gakkai youth. https://researchmap.jp/7000026614


Ryo Chonabayashi(Ph.D. in Philosophy, Cardiff University). Ryo Chonabayashi’s main research area is metaethics, a theoretical part of ethics/moral philosophy in which various foundational questions about morality and value are asked, such as whether morality and evaluative judgements have any objectivity or not. He has been working on how moral values causally connect with various empirical phenomena, such as some general patterns of people’s moral judgements and social stability/instability. He is also interested in how some Buddhist ideas and thoughts can be relevant to contemporary philosophical issues. About his research, please see his Researchmap page (https://researchmap.jp/r.chonabayashi?lang=en).
 

SungYong Lee (Ph.D. in International Relations, University of St. Andrews).Dr Lee’s research primarily centres on conflict resolution, third-party mediation, post-conflict reconstruction, and post-liberal models of peacebuilding, with a geographical focus on Southeast Asia. A few keywords that he is currently working on include local ownership of peacebuilding, faith-based peacebuilding, community resilience, everyday peace, and social reconciliation in post-violent societies. He has been serving various academic or professional bodies including the International Studies Association (ISA, Peace Studies Section) and the Royal Society of New Zealand (Otago Regional Committee). Prior to involving the academic research, he had engaged with local peacebuilding programmes in India, Afghanistan and Cambodia as a field practitioner.