The workshop offers a workshop-type class related to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). By 2025, the SDGs workshop, organized by international students, will celebrate its fifth anniversary. Each year, the workshop primarily features presentations and engaging activities, such as games in basic Japanese, offering children in daycare a valuable opportunity to learn about the SDGs from various perspectives. The photo captures the activities from 2022. Students applied their acquired knowledge about SDGs from the lectures and discussions and organized their own SDGs workshops. During the class of Fall 2022, the students organized a series of three workshops with a daycare in Yokohama city. In the first session, students introduced their countries and held a mini workshop about environmental problems. In the second session, they created a play incorporating themes of environmental and gender issues. In the final session, a flea market was organized for children to bring in their "used toys." The goal of the flea market was to experience the main idea of Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production.

Yokohama was the primary gateway to modern Japan. In this seminar, we read and discussed themes related to Yokohama’s modern history from its emergence in the mid-nineteenth century in the context of the East Asian treaty port system, the end of extraterritoriality at the turn of the century, the rise of the “modan” in the interwar period, the destruction and reconstruction of the city in the 1920s and 1940s, the occupation period, and the rapid economic growth period from social ecological perspectives. Active class discussions were fueled by the questions students posted online before class. Students also completed group projects related to the themes discussed in class with comparative international perspectives. Like Yokohama, the class was enlivened by interactions between the diverse perspectives and interests of its participants.

“Development” has long been a consistently pursued global objective. This course explores how we should understand development in the age of sustainability, with a particular focus on governance. The course recognizes development-related issues with structural backgrounds and fosters understanding of how various actors in the global community approach international cooperation. This course provides an overview of global development cooperation, covering key elements such as historical changes in notions of development, global goals for economic growth and welfare, and governance within the complex framework of diverse actors and factors. Through lectures and active discussions, students gain insights into the historical and contextual aspects of development, encouraging critical reflection on their own perspectives.

Human activities invariably influence the natural environment in which we live. This programme offers a comprehensive and interdisciplinary introduction to environmental studies, inviting you to explore the complex interconnections between ecological, social, and economic systems. You will build a strong foundation for understanding some of the most pressing environmental challenges of our time, including overpopulation, urbanisation, climate change, resource depletion, and pollution. Through a multidisciplinary lens, you will gain valuable insights into how human actions affect the natural world. Throughout the course, you will critically analyse theoretical concepts, ethical perspectives, policy frameworks, and societal implications to examine both the causes of environmental issues and potential solutions. This programme is an opportunity to engage deeply with the urgent environmental challenges of today—and to reflect on your role as an informed, responsible global citizen.

In this course students gain an in-depth understanding of the form and function of different academic essay genres. Students learn to write effective thesis statements, introductions, body paragraphs, and conclusions. They also learn to paraphrase, summarize, cite sources, and edit their peers’ and their own writing through various writing tasks. Once students acquire the basic skills, they will acquire advanced academic essay-writing skills from interpreting essay prompts to efficiently editing an essay. Students will learn to do research, take a position in an essay, evaluate outside sources, and write effective and cohesive paragraphs. Students will also learn to write with greater grammatical complexity and integrate source information into their own writing. In addition, students read academic and newspaper articles, not only to be exposed to different writing styles, but also to think critically about current global issues and to actively lead and engage in class discussions.