On December 11, a joint-class was held at the Mirai Sozo Juku live-in research facility between the classes “Japan in World History” taught by Prof. Yuichiro Shimizu at SFC, and “World History” taught by Prof Hiromu Nagara and Sana Aiyar at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The class was held through a real-time video conference where both classes acquired new perspectives on the importance of global history.

The course kicked off with discussions based on two world maps created from the British and Japanese empires. The students at SFC and MIT enriched their understanding of history through ideas by reading the works of Tenshin Okakura and Rabindranath Tagore. Then, they created a timeline of the modern history of Japan, India, and the U.S., deepening their understanding of history through time. Despite it being late at night at SFC, and early in the morning at MIT, the students had far-reaching discussions on not only modern, but also ancient to contemporary history. The class was concluded with the final presentations by the students.

Until recently, joint-classes like this had been challenging due to the time difference between Japan and the U.S. This semester, the live-in research facility at SFC enabled the class to take place smoother than ever, ensuring that Japanese studies courses at SFC will continue to hold joint-classes with not only MIT, but with other universities all around the world.