U Tokyo Liberal Arts Program

I Want to Experience Joint Fieldwork with Chinese Students

One-Week-at-UT Program
Fiscal Year 2013

2014.Oct.16

Outline

Program Description

LAP (Liberal Arts Program) has hosted various educational programs with the aim of sharing with other parts of the world the results and experience of liberal arts education at the University of Tokyo. Specifically, LAP has hosted Intensive Lecture Series and Theme Lectures at the University of Tokyo and Nanjing University, as well as student exchange programs “One-Week-at-UT Program” (NU → UT) and “Nanjing University Intensive Lecture Series Student Exchange” (UT → NU), which offer an opportunity for students to actively produce knowledge.

Through “One-Week-at-UT Program,” students from Nanjing University are invited to know life at the University of Tokyo firsthand, by experiencing classes at the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and the Graduate School. The Program is also an opportunity for students from both schools to conduct joint research, exchange their views on a single topic, and have new discoveries about another culture as well as reflecting upon themselves.

Participants

10 NU students and 13 UT students

Dates

November 10, 2013 (Sun) to November 17, 2013 (Sun)

Joint Research

● Theme: “Getting to Know Tokyo through Water”

For the academic year 2013, LAP is hosting Theme Lecture “Water”

Humans and water have maintained a very close relationship from ancient times to the present. As can be seen in examples like ancient civilizations evolving in the vicinity of large rivers, water has provided the basis for the lives of humans, enabling them to have settlements where numerous economic activities, methods of transportation and cultures emerged. We can also observe examples where differing levels of access to water gave unique characteristics to different regions, distinct characteristics to how  water was understood by the inhabitants of those places and each civilization reflected such characteristics. Water gives large impacts on the earth's environment and climate as it circulates through the air and the oceans. On the other hand, we can vividly recall the recent incidents of tsunami and flood, where the nature went against us and caused enormous and tragic damages. In Natural Sciences, water has provided its unique questions as a unique substance. We would also like you to be aware that all living creatures of the planet earth depend on this unique quality of water for their survival. We believe that water as a topic offers us so many things to learn from the perspectives of both Humanities and Sciences.

The above paragraph offers a variety of ways to think about “water.” While it is important to think about “water” from such macro perspectives, things that are closer to our daily lives must also be awash with instances that closely relate to “water.”

With this in mind, we have set the theme of “One-Week-at-UT Program UT-NU Students Joint Research” as “Getting to Know Tokyo through Water.”

Through this joint research, we would like you to think about the role water plays for us in the present day and the cultural significance of water.

● Process of Research

・Set up a sub-theme in each group (Contact with NU students via email)
・Conduct preliminary research based on the sub-theme, decide whom to interview
・Upon NU students' arrival, conduct field research and analysis
・Research presentation (November 15, 4th-5th periods,)

●List of Research Themes (Click on the links to see details of the researches on LAP's Facebook Page)

・Group 1: “How the Japanese Feel Out of the Ordinary in Hotsprings”
・Group 2: “The Water That the Japanese Drink: Why the Japanese Do Not Drink Hot Water”
・Group 3: "Psychological Effect of Water in Japan -- 'Purifying'”
・Group 4: Consumer Habits of Purchasing Water and Their Tendency in Tokyo

Course Offerings for NU Students

11th (Mon) 2nd period	SAITO Yoshifumi	What is Liberal Arts Education?
11th (Mon) 3rd period	MARUYAMA Makoto	Economics II
	TAKAHASHI Tetsuya	Ethics II
	ALVEY Nahoko	Language and Literature IV
	TANNO Yoshihiko	Psychology II
	IMAHASHI Eiko	Comparative Literature
13th (Wed) 5th period	KATO Teruyuki	Theme Lecture "Water" -- "Tsunami"
14th (Thu) 3th period	YAMABE Akinori	Thinking about Liberal Arts for a New Era
	SAKAI Kuniyoshi	Brain- and Neuroscience of Language
14th (Thu) 4th period	ISHIMITSU Yasuo	Representation and Culture
	MAEDA Motonari	Educational Clinical Psychology
	HASEBE Yasuo et al.	Academic Bird's Eye Lecture "Contour of This Country - Japan's Self-Image"
14th (Thu) 5th period	KOIZUMI Hideki	Human, the Environment, General Lecture
	MATSUO Motoyuki	Human, the Environment, General Lecture
	MAFUNE Fumitaka・HARA Kazuyuki	Brand Design Studio 8

 

Field Trips

13th (Wed) AM	Visit to Historiographical Institute The University of Tokyo
13th (Wed) PM	Visit to ZENSHO HOLDINGS Co., Ltd.

 

Essay Questions for NU Students after Their Return

After you go back to China, please submit an essay of approximately 3,000 Japanese characters that deals with the following three questions.
1) Describe what you are beginning to understand about “water” through your joint research project.
2) Choose 2 of the lectures you attended in Tokyo and discuss your views referring to what you heard in those lectures.
3) Write your reflections and opinions about the “One-Week-at-UT Program” as a whole.

One-Week-at-UT ProgramFiscal Year 2013 Schedule