Class Introduction

This lecture course aims to provide an overview of the terminology, themes, and theories that are the basis of futurology. We will consider what a future society in which peace, justice, and sustainable livability are realized would look like, taking into account possible events. Through these discussions, students will have the opportunity to think about what kind of future they would like. Specifically, we will cover the philosophies and methodologies of Dator, Inayatullah, Lum, etc.

In this seminar, we will consider the dissemination and reception of Japanese culture by comparing, as an example, documents about Japanese culture written by foreigners with texts written by Japanese people that were influenced by them or written for foreigners. As a method of proceeding with the class, we ask the seminar students to give presentations every week, and participants will think together about the social and historical background of the texts, their intentions, and their influences.

This course covers various forms of digital media, and aims to equip students with the knowledge and skills necessary to access and utilize the many digital media available in today's global society. Students will learn basic knowledge of file formats, text coding, and copyright holder types, and will also conduct exercises to acquire typing skills, content retrieval techniques (including an understanding of search engine optimization in particular), and content creation skills.