[TUFS] TP-Workshop 2019 and off-line student workshop at UCLA
2019.08.20
Four students who achieved excellent results in the COIL-type classes at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies from January to February 2019 were selected to receive an opportunity to visit the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in the United States. Students participated in the TP-Workshop (*) as well as the student session for off-line discussions with the students they interacted with online through the COIL-type classes. Students from UC Riverside (UCR) and UC Irvine (UCI) attended the student session.
The student session was held on June 6, and the students prepared presentations in advance and presented it respectively in English on the topic of how the media reported on the new era name “Reiwa,” which led to a debate about the controversy surrounding “Reiwa.”
The TP-Workshop was held from June 7 to 8. It was the first time participating in an academic conference for all of the participating students, and they deepened their knowledge of various topics and in cross-disciplinary discussions conducted at the TP-Workshop. In addition to learning at an academic conference for the first time, students had an exceptional experience as they were able to actually meet the students with whom they had an online discussion in the COIL-type classes, and were able to deepen their friendships with them through discussion and debate on various topics.
*About TP-Workshop The Transpacific Workshop is an open workshop held once a year, usually in June, for the researchers from faculty members to graduate students who are engaged in Japanese studies at universities on the west coast of the United States to familiarize them with the latest trends in Japanese studies and to explore opportunities for collaborations between Japan and the United States on various researches. Previously, it has usually been held at UCLA (with the help of the Terasaki Center), but in the future, we are planning to hold it at places such as UCI and UCR in California in turn. This workshop is a bit different from what is conventionally referred to as an academic conference, and graduate students have become deeply committed to its management. From the Japanese side, it is joined by Dr. Ryuichi Narita (History) at Japan Women’s University, who has been building collaborative relationships with American researchers for many years, together with researchers at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies (Prof. Minoru Iwasaki, Associate Professors Nobuo Haruna and Rin Odawara, Lecturers Akito Sakasai and Kozue Uehara, etc.) as well as Professor Koji Toba (Japanese Modern and Contemporary Literature) at Waseda University, Professor Hidehito Tsuboi (Japanese Modern and Contemporary Literature) at the International Center for Japanese Studies, and Naoki Watanabe (Korean Studies) at Musashi University. In addition, the workshop sets a very loose theme every year, and each researcher reports on an idea that is in a developing stage in a sense in a relaxed style, which transcends the ages and specialized fields of researchers. The participants have conducted many sessions where multifaceted opinions are exchanged. As a result, the themes the workshop has covered in the past have been considerably wide-ranging such as “Wounds” which was set with an acute consciousness of 3.11, “Playing” which was predicated on various cultural phenomena in consumer society, and “Precariousness” which considered modern capitalism, in which the number of non-regular workers is expanding. Against this backdrop of cross-Pacific exchanges, the University’s Global Development Capabilities Enhancement Project has been proposed. Last year, some of the students who actively participated in COIL-type classes in Japan were selected and joined the workshop with the support of the university.
(Minoru Iwasaki, Professor, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies)
The reports by the students who participated:
目黒さん【COIL】TP workshop-報告書
内山さん【COIL】TP workshop-報告書
森田さん【COIL】TP workshop-報告書
青柳さん【COIL】TP workshop-報告書
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