Essence of Humanities and Social Sciences51:Studies on Future Society

Academic unit or major

Humanities and social science courses

Instructor(s)

Renge Jibu

Class Format

Lecture (Face-to-face)

Media-enhanced courses

-

Day of week/Period
(Classrooms)

3-4 Wed (S4-202(S422))

Class

-

Course Code

LAH.S443

Number of credits

100

Course offered

2026

Offered quarter

1Q

Syllabus updated

Mar 5, 2026

Language

Japanese

Syllabus

Course overview and goals

This course focuses on a future society from the perspective of leader. For the last 10 years, Japanese society has been experiencing decreasing population and labor force which are serious economic issues. In this course, we will learn governmental institutions, corporations and NPOs which tackle the issue.
The aim of this course is to learn practical skills such as effective communication by using statistical data and cases.

Course description and aims

By the end of this course, students will be able to: 1) Listening to team members' voice with diversified background. 2)Communication skills which enables to share goals and risks. 3) Understand social issues. 4) Integrate their science knowledge to social issues.

Student learning outcomes

実務経験と講義内容との関連 (又は実践的教育内容)

The instructor of this course has 20+year experience of journalist covering corporate executive and young leaders. Based on the experience, I deliver the practical knowledge about good and bad leadership．

Keywords

care work, policy, family, comparison between countries

Competencies

• Specialist skills
• Intercultural skills
• Communication skills
• Critical thinking skills
• Practical and/or problem-solving skills

Class flow

In addition to lectures, students will have opportunities to talk in group works and in the whole class. This course encourage to attend international students. Instructor speaks in Japanese but the students can speak both in Japanese and English. A part of reading materials can be access by English.

Course schedule/Objectives

Study advice (preparation and review)

To enhance effective learning, students are encouraged to spend approximately 100 minutes preparing for class and another 100 minutes reviewing class content afterwards (including assignments) for each class.
They should do so by referring to textbooks and other course material.

Textbook(s)

(1) Books used for reading reports
Mainichi Newspaper Reporting Team. "Young Carers: Children in Care.” (2021) .
https://mainichibooks.com/books/essay/post-533.html
Either the paper version or the electronic version such as Kindle is acceptable, so please obtain it before the class starts.
(2) Paper on care based on psychological experiments
Takeru Miyajima and Hiroyuki Yamaguchi. (2017). "I want to but I won't: Pluralistic Ignorance Inhibits Intentions to Take Paternity Leave in Japan"
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01508/full
3) Reports used to inform international policy trends
UN Women. "A TOOLKIT ON PAID AND UNPAID CARE WORK: FROM 3Rs TO 5Rs."(2022).
https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/2022-06/A-toolkit-on-paid-and-unpaid-care-work-en.pdf

Reference books, course materials, etc.

Textbooks other than those specified will be distributed in class.

Evaluation methods and criteria

Evaluation will be based on assignment PPT, 3times x 15 points = 45 points maximum, Reading Report, 1 x 25 points maximum, Final Report (2000-3000 words) = 30 points maximum.

Related courses

• LAH.T114 ： Studies on Future Society A
• LAH.T214 ： Studies on Future Society B
• LAH.T318 ： Studies on Future Society C

Prerequisites

None

Other

No class will be held on April 8 (Wed).
A total of seven classes will be held for this course: April 15 (Wed), April 22 (Wed), May 13 (Wed), May 20 (Wed), May 27 (Wed), June 3 (Wed), and June 5 (Fri)*.
*Please note that the final class is on a Friday.