ICAS : Atoms for the Machines and Machines for the Atoms: Artificial Intelligence, Data, and the Future of Nuclear Power (Hybrid)
Thursday, July 3, 2025 - 18:30 to 20:00
Over the past year, several large tech companies have expressed interest in using nuclear reactors to provide the power for their data centers. These data centers are critical for the development and use of artificial intelligence and require large, consistent supplies of electricity. At the same time, artificial intelligence-powered systems are increasingly being developed for use in industrial control systems, including for operating nuclear reactors. This seminar will explore the social, political, and economic implications of using nuclear reactors to power large data centers and using artificial intelligence to operate nuclear reactors.
ICAS : Guerrilla Filmmaking: Seeking Forgiveness Not Permission (Hybrid)
Thursday, June 19, 2025 - 18:30 to 20:00
This presentation explores the principles and practices of guerrilla filmmaking—a low-budget, independent approach to cinematic storytelling that operates outside the traditional studio system.
Guerrilla filmmaking emphasizes improvisation, resourcefulness, and the mantra “seek forgiveness, not permission.” It relies on available resources, handheld cameras, and the ability to adapt in unpredictable environments.
ICAS : [Book Talk] Child Welfare and Problems of Well-Being in Japan (Hybrid)
Monday, June 16, 2025 - 18:30 to 20:00
Child welfare systems do not always generate well-being. This is true across the world, as it is in Japan. Policymakers, caregivers, and people with experience in state care endeavor to imagine—and implement—child welfare systems that are genuinely supportive. Yet despite these efforts, social welfare systems too often produce people who are alone..
ICAS : America’s Evolving Asia Policy Under New Japanese and American Administrations (Hybrid)
Tuesday, June 3, 2025 - 18:30 to 20:00
On November 14, 2009, President Barack Obama concluded his speech at Suntory Hall in Tokyo with the following words: “As America’s first Pacific President, I promise you that this Pacific nation [USA] will strengthen and sustain our leadership in this vitally important part of the world.” What followed was the “Asia Pivot” or “Asia Rebalance”—focusing America’s time, attention, and resources to Asia in recognition of the region’s importance as a center of economic dynamism, population growth, political tensions, and potential military conflicts...
ICAS : [Book Talk] Cracking the Crab: Russian Espionage Against Japan, from Peter the Great to Richard Sorge (In-person)
Thursday, April 24, 2025 - 18:30 to 20:00
On the day of its official release, Prof. James D.J. Brown will be introducing his new book on Russian espionage.
ICAS: Minority Report - Six Months Into Japan's Experiment In Living Without a Boss (Hybrid)
Thursday, April 10, 2025 - 18:30 to 20:00
In September Japan’s ruling coalition partners, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the Komeito, chose new leaders -- fresh faces to lead their respective parties. A month later, both parties suffered humiliating defeats in the House of Representatives election. The Komeito leader lost his seat in the Diet and had to resign. Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru, badly wounded by LDP’s loss of more than 50 seats, nevertheless hung on to the leadership of his party and the country.
ICAS : 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games (Hybrid)
Thursday, March 27, 2025 - 18:30 to 20:00
Join us for an insightful double-header discussion on the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and the complex intersection of economics, infrastructure, and corporate sponsorship. Don't miss this unique opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the financial complexities behind one of the world’s biggest sporting events!
ICAS : [Book Talk] Hiroshima: The Last Witnesses (Hybrid)
Friday, March 14, 2025 - 18:30 to 20:00
Hiroshima: The Last Witnesses is the first volume in a two-book series about each of the atomic bomb drops that ended the Pacific War. It is the result of nine years of personal interviews with Hiroshima survivors, onsite fieldwork, and archival research of both Japanese and American wartime records by M.G. Sheftall, a cultural historian at Shizuoka University, a campus of the Japanese national university system.
ICAS: Animals in Japanese Society: The case of companion versus farm animals (Hybrid)
Thursday, February 20, 2025 - 18:30 to 20:00
In the Anthropocene, the idea of human exceptionalism continues to shape a human-centric world, perpetuating power imbalances towards animals and the environment. This presentation examines these dynamics in Japan by focusing on two distinct “categories” of animals: companion animals and farm animals.
ICAS: Marriage Equality in Japan: LGBT couples on the verge of full(er) equality? (Hybrid)
Monday, February 10, 2025 - 18:30 to 20:00
In 2024, three High Courts in Japan came to agreement and ruled Japan's ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional. These landmark decisions constitute a pivotal moment in Japan's ongoing journey toward marriage equality and broader LGBTQ+ rights...
ICAS: [Book Talk] How the Japanese Restaurants Spread Around the World and Created a Global Japanese Cuisine (Hybrid)
Wednesday, January 22, 2025 - 18:30 to 20:00
With more than 170,000 Japanese restaurants around the world, Japanese cuisine has become truly global. This talk summarizes the research process and principal results of The Global Japanese Restaurant: Mobilities, Imaginaries, and Politics (University of Hawaii Press, 2023).
ICAS: Modern Warfare: The Evolution of International Humanitarian Law and Mass Atrocity Investigations from Yugoslavia to Myanmar (Hybrid)
Thursday, December 5, 2024 - 18:30 to 20:00
Despite the significant time gap between the Yugoslav Wars and the ongoing crisis in Myanmar, striking parallels and contrasts exist in the nature of the conflicts and the international responses to them. This lecture will delve into these aspects, focusing on the application and challenges of international criminal and humanitarian law across both cases.
ICAS: Stories of Indian Migrants in Japan: Adapting, Facing Challenges, and Finding Success (Hybrid)
Thursday, November 28, 2024 - 18:30 to 20:00
This talk will look into the contemporary migration trends of Indians to Japan, focusing on the factors influencing their migration and settlement patterns.
ICAS: ICAS: Next Agenda for Japan’s Economic Security After the 2024 Elections (In-person)
Thursday, November 7, 2024 - 18:30 to 20:00
The result of the general election in Japan in late October and the presidential election in the U.S. in early November could have profound implications on various aspects of the Japan-U.S. relationship.
ICAS: How Russia and China Collaborate in the Information Space (In-person)
Wednesday, October 23, 2024 - 18:30 to 20:00
Russia’s war in Ukraine has alerted the world to the effectiveness of hybrid war, particularly that in the cyber domain. Russian information operations (and the Ukrainian response to them) are an invaluable case study offering lessons applicable to every part of the world, but to Asian allies in particular as China increasingly turns toward new avenues for coercion.
ICAS: Unveiling the Essence of Noh: Voice, Philosophy, and Buddhism (Hybrid)
Thursday, October 10, 2024 - 18:30 to 20:00
This lecture invites you to explore the profound world of Noh, one of Japan’s most ancient and revered performing arts, where the boundaries between performance, philosophy, and spirituality dissolve. You'll get to know Zeami, the legendary playwright whose ideas about performance still resonate after 600 years. We will explore the role of the body and voice through the play, ‘Sumida River’.
ICAS: Efficient strategies to work in an international workplace (Hybrid)
Wednesday, September 25, 2024 - 18:30 to 20:00
This conference will explore how to wisely choose an employer, highlight what makes your profile stand out, and develop the mindsets and attitudes needed to be recognized as a true global professional.
ICAS: China-Japan-South Korea relations in an era of China-US rivalry (In-person)
Wednesday, September 11, 2024 - 18:30 to 20:00
After a five-year hiatus, China, Japan, and South Korea held the 9th Trilateral Summit in May 2024. While the meeting yielded few concrete outcomes, the resumption of trilateral diplomacy signaled a desire to reinforce cooperation among the three countries...
ICAS: Japan’s Diaspora Diplomacy: how Japan has engaged with "Nikkeijin" and how this has shaped ideas of "Nihonjin" (Hybrid)
Thursday, July 18, 2024 - 18:30 to 20:00
Ever since the late 19th century, the Japanese state has engaged with its emigrants and their descendants, known today as Nikkeijin, who reside mainly in the Americas and now Japan. Recently, the government rekindled its interest in strengthening ties with them, especially in South America. In this talk, Ayumi Takenaka aims to address why, and how this has played a role in shaping ideas of Nihonjin (Japanese) by presenting a historical trajectory of Japan’s state-diaspora relationship (1868-present).
ICAS: All is Full of AI/爱. You Just Ain't Receiving: Whiteness, Race, Robots, and AI (Hybrid)
Thursday, July 11, 2024 - 18:30 to 20:00
Generative AI and robots do not so much project our future as reflect our past and the vice-like grip that past holds on our present. They replicate and embody toxic racial and gender biases and stereotypes that reinforce, rather than challenge, discriminatory patterns of human social behavior...