Joint Degree Master in Transcultural Studies
Kyoto University | Graduate School of Letters
Interested students are invited to online Q&As on July 18, 2025, during which they can ask questions about the Transcultural Studies major and how to apply for a position in the joint degree program.
Continue reading “Online Student Orientation (2025/07/18)”
The Transcultural Studies Division holds an intensive lecture course entitled “Aesthetics, Materiality, and Politics: An Intensive Introduction to Meiji Art” (Foundation I – Seminar (VMC)), taught by Dr. Katharina RODE-KAYA from Heidelberg University on August 4-8.
In this intensive course, we will approach the art and politics Japanese Meiji era (1868-1912), and navigate their complexity through separate case studies that are often transcultural in nature. While having absorbed visual and technical input from mainly China and Europe throughout the so-called closed (sakoku) Edo period, the availability of materials and contact to actual people from outside Japan propelled art-politico development from the 1880s onwards. To cater to various interests and the transcultural perspective of the program, we will explore five different aspects of the Meiji art world.
Date & Time: August 4-8, 9:00-12:00, 13:00-16:00
Location: Seminar Room 10, First Floor, Research Building No.2 (Map㉞)
Language: English
Poster
The Transcultural Studies Division holds an intensive lecture course entitled “Learning the Power of Observation” (Foundation I – Seminar (VMC)), taught by Filmmaker, Kazuhiro Soda on July 28-31 and August 1.In this intensive course, he will explain how and why he takes his particular approach to documentary filmmaking, covering all phases of filmmaking from filming to editing to marketing. It will give students an opportunity to learn how a documentary filmmaker thinks and works. Examining actual day to day problems he faces, students will also learn and study various issues around documentary, such as ethics, economics, reality vs fiction, subjectivity vs objectivity, etc. At the end of the course, each student must write and submit a final paper which discusses such issues analyzing my films and methods.
Date & Time: July 28-31, August 1, 10:30-12:00, 13:15-14:45, 15:00-16:30
Location: Seminar Room 9, Basement Floor, Research Building No.2 (Map㉞)
Language: English and Japanese
Poster
Syllabus
Welcome all students who are interested in cinema and media studies.
Prior registration is required.
Click here to register.
If you have questions about it, you may contact Prof. Mitsuyo Wada-Marciano at wadamarciano.mitsuyo.6w[at]kyoto-u.ac.jp.
The Transcultural Studies Division of the Graduate School of Letters wishes all students and faculty a
Happy New Year!
Continue reading “Happy New Year 2025!”
2-Day Interactive Workshop and Lecture in Kyoto (2024/11/27-28)
Workshop
November 27, 9:00-17:30
November 28, 9:00-16:30
Lecture & Reception
November 28, 17:00-20:00
Workshop
Kyoto University, Yoshida Izumidono
Lecture & Reception
Heidelberg University Office, Kyoto
Registration closes October 25. Language: English. Participation is free.
Continue reading “Role-Playing for Climate, Wellbeing, and Transcultural Understanding”
Seminar and discussion with Dr. Riestra-Camacho (University of Oviedo, Spain).
Date and Time: November 1, 2024. 15:00-17:00
Location: Kyoto University, Faculty & Graduate School of Letters, Basement Meeting Room
Language: English.
Participation is free.
The Transcultural Studies Division holds lecture series as a part of the course, “Transcultural Asian Cinema” conducted by Prof. Mitsuyo Wada-Marciano.
The theme of the Transcultural Cinema Forum in the second semester of 2024 is “New Film History from Women‘s Documentaries. ” The objective of this course is to examine Japanese documentary film history from the perspective of women through study of films of women such as Oda Kaori, Komori Haruka, and Toda Hikaru, who have worked as directors without learning filmmaking from “men.”
Since this course is taught in two consecutive classes, the entire course is three hours long. Therefore, the course is eight weeks instead of fifteen. During this period, we will have six guest speakers to share their thoughts and films, and at the same time, discussions with all participants are planned during the Q&A session after the screenings.
Date & Time: October 8, 15 29, November 5, 12, 19 15:00-18:15
Location: Lecture Room 9(講義室9), Basement Floor,
Research Building No.2 (総合研究2号館)
Language: English
Free to All
Please find posters here: PDF
This three-session series of seminars reconsiders the significance of university-published journals such as Diamond Open Access (OA) and teaches about the open-source tools available to improve their sustainability and reputation.
Sessions: May 30, June 27, July 25
Continue reading “Seminar Series on Open Access Publishing for Journals of Kyoto University (in Japanese)[update]”
Professor Mitsuyo Wada-Marciano will hold a screening of documentary film, Lee Kyung Soon’s Red Maria 2 (2015) .
Date & Time: June 21, Friday 15:00-18:00
Location: Basement Meeting Room (地下1階会議室), Faculty of Letters Main Bldg.
Language: Korean (English Subtitles)
Free to all
If you have questions about it, you may contact Prof. Mitsuyo Wada-Marciano at wadamarciano.mitsuyo.6w[a]kyoto-u.ac.jp.
Please find the poster here: PDF
The Transcultural Studies Division will offer four lectures in June. We have invited four researchers who specialize in film and music to give these lectures.
“Women in Cities: Comparative Modernities and Cinematic Space in the 1930s”
Catherine Russell
Professor, Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema, Concordia University
Date & Time: 2024/06/03 (Mon), 13:15-16:30
Location: Lecture Room 3,Faculty of Letters Main Bldg.
“Itinerary of a Melody: Transnational Journey of Popular Music from Japan”
Lauri Kitsnik
Assistant Professor, Department of Asian and North African Studies, Ca’ Foscari University
Date & Time: 2024/06/14 (Fri), 13:15-16:30
Location: Basement Meeting Room (地下1階会議室) Lecture Room 3, Faculty of Letters Main Bldg.
“Precocious Modernism, Queer Homosociality, and Mou Tun-fei’s The End of the Track”
Chang-Min Yu
Assistant Professor, Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, National Taiwan University.
Date & Time: 2024/06/18 (Tue), 15:00-18:00
Location: Lecture Room 9,Basement Floor, Research Building No.2
“Beyond the Auteur: The Diversity of Korean Independent Cinema of the 2010s”
Marc Raymond
Professor, Department of Communication, Kwangwoon University
Date & Time: 2024/06/20 (Thu), 15:00-18:00
Location: Lecture Room 9,Basement Floor, Research Building No.2
