This coming Sunday (May 15, starting 10am), sees a unique event at the Yokohama campus of Meiji Gakuin University and online via Zoom, called THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME, marking the international departmen’s ten years of teaching global and transcultural studies.
This one-day symposium features a panel of star speakers who will try to predict what will happen in the next ten years in Japan, East Asia, and the World. The star speaker is MUHAMMAD YUNUS, winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, known as “banker to the poor”, live by Zoom link from the Yunus Centre, Dhaka, Bangladesh . The event also features Alex Kerr, author of books such as Lost Japan and Dogs and Demons: The Fall of Modern Japan, noted professional economic journalist, Rick Katz, Hiroko Takeda author of The Political Economy of Reproduction: Between Nation-State and Everyday Life (2005) and co-editor of The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Japan (2021) along with Kyoko Hatakeyama(Professor of International Relations, University of Niigata Prefecture), David Leheny, Masafumi Iida, Eric Zusman, Mika Ohbayashi and Hiroshi Ohta.
It will be an interactive event, with 15-minute presentations and equal time for free discussion. This is a great chance to get into conversation with some elite experts on Japan and broaden your own knowledge of the country and Asia. Admission is free and open to all, but prior registration is required.
Click here for the Online program here:
Click here for the Online registration
The full press release is below:
A Symposium commemorating the Tenth Anniversary of the Foundation of the Department of Global and Transcultural Studies, Meiji Gakuin University
SUNDAY MAY 15, 2022, MEIJI GAKUIN UNIVERSITY YOKOHAMA CAMPUS
As our department marks ten years of teaching global and transcultural studies, the world appears to be balanced on a knife edge. Internationalism is locked with nationalism, secularism with religious fundamentalism, democracy with authoritarianism, tolerance with intolerance. The Corona Pandemic has ushered in a new and frightening era of massive biohazards, while Russia’s attempted invasion of Ukraine has raised the specter of a return to Cold War type confrontation. Casting a long shadow over these massive ideological struggles is climate change, thought by many experts to be close to a tipping point from which will flow disastrous consequences for humanity and the natural environment.
This symposium will commemorate the tenth anniversary of the Department of Global and Transcultural Studies. It will be an opportunity to step back, take a deep breath, and survey the world and the prospects for the ten years to come. Each of our speakers will be invited to gaze into their crystal ball and forecast how global affairs will develop in the next ten years. We hope to examine their predictions ten years later, when the department celebrates its 20thanniversary.
Keynote speaker
Muhammad Yunus (2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner)
PROGRAM
9:30am: Doors Open; Registration
9:50am: Welcome and Opening Remarks by Leo Murata (president of Meiji Gakuin University)
10am
Panel 1: Prospects for Japan
Chair: Prof. Tom Gill (Meiji Gakuin Dept. of Global and Transcultural Studies)
Japan’s economic, social and demographic challenges for the next decade.
Alex Kerr (long-term resident of Kyoto, known for books such as Lost Japan and Dogs and Demons: The Fall of Modern Japan)
Richard Katz (economist, New York correspondent of Toyo Keizai; will join online)
Hiroko Takeda (Professor of Political Science, Nagoya University)
11:45am
Panel 2: Peace and Security
Chair: Prof. Kōki Abe (Meiji Gakuin Department of International Studies)
Prospects for peace and security in East Asia in the shadow of China-US competition.
Masafumi Iida (Professor, National Institute of Defense Studies)
Kyoko Hatakeyama (Professor of International Relations, University of Niigata Prefecture)
David Leheny (Professor of Political Science, Waseda University)
1:15pm: Lunch (Please bring your own lunch. Alternatively, there are two convenience stores and one small restaurant near the campus.)
2:15pm
Panel 3: Renewable Energy/Environment
Can Japan meet its ambitious carbon reduction targets for 2030, and if so, how?
Chair: Prof. Paul Midford (Meiji Gakuin Dept. of Global and Transcultural Studies)
Eric Zusman (Senior Researcher, Institute for Global Environmental Studies)
Mika Ohbayashi (Director, Renewable Energy Institute, Tokyo)
Hiroshi Ohta (Professor, Waseda University School of International Liberal Studies)
4:00pm
Panel 4: Careers in the Coming Decade
Chair: Prof. Takayuki Sakamoto (Meiji Gakuin Dept. of Global and Transcultural Studies)
Seven of our graduates will discuss prospects for the fields in which they are working.
11KC1020 Rina Takeda, Sony Music Solutions Inc.
13KC1031 Kaji Deane, automotive distributor
13KC1045 Megumi Miura, project manager, Amazon Japan
14KC1018 Ruxin Wei, systems engineer, Intelligent Wave Inc.
15KC1025 Jinzaburo Tasaka, web designer, SoftBank
15KC1026 Yumi Tajima, fashion merchandiser
15KC1504 Vladislav Lushchikov, restaurant manager
5:45pm
Introduction of Prof. Muhammad Yunus by Prajakta Khare (Associate Professor, Meiji Gakuin Dept. of Global and Transcultural Studies)
6:00pm
Keynote Address
Professor Muhammad Yunus, winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, “banker to the poor”, live by Zoom link from the Yunus Centre, Dhaka, Bangladesh
“Global Economic Inequality: Now is the Time to Redesign”
Q&A moderated by Prajakta Khare
6:45pm
Yokohama International Study Association (YISA) – Officers of the Meiji Gakuin alumni association will explain the association’s activities and how to get involved in them.
7pm
Vote of thanks by Prof. Aoi Mori, Dean of the Faculty of International Studies, Meiji Gakuin University