The nationalism that characterized much of the last century gave rise to the two most destructive conflicts in the history of civilization. Those tragic consequences demonstrate that our fate as humans depends on how we define the shape of international relations in this century. Already, the ongoing revolution in technologies and systems is accelerating transnational activity in many different arenas. In the midst of this changing setting, nations are trying hard to determine the right depth for their relationships with other countries and the world at large. At the same time, more and more efforts are being made around the world to construct systems for resolving a variety of challenges, as well as to form cross-border regional partnerships.
There are three major challenges that must be addressed through international collaboration. The first task, which is the ethical obligation of today’s generation, is to engage in development cooperation to counter two problems that have a destabilizing effect on world peace: the absolute poverty of developing nations and the widening of the gap between them and the developed world. The second challenge - the ethical duty of tomorrow's generation - is environment and resource management, which cannot be tackled without global-scale cooperation. The third area is system design and policy coordination to provide a platform on which all nations can contribute to world peace and sustainable economic growth and stability. All three challenges share the need for proper governance of global public goods.
Working from this comprehensive perspective of history and the real challenges facing the world, the Department of International Studies implements educational and research programs aimed at cultivating new mission leaders and scientists who possess the policy formulation and practical management skills necessary for undertaking international cooperation activities. In particular, we strive to equip students with the ambition to boldly go up against the challenges confronting the international community through specialized or transdisciplinary approaches, and with the analytical tools that they need to support their theories.

International studies require in-depth expertise and transdisciplinary approaches. Accordingly, our faculty and students naturally comprise a good balance of different backgrounds in both the sciences and the humanities. Our educational and research programs are concentrated on three clusters, with each covering one of the aforementioned areas of global challenges: development cooperation, resource/environment governance, and policy coordination and system design. Each cluster has a three-tier curriculum comprising core courses, advanced studies, and practical coursework that includes internships. Added to these are cooperative courses co-led by University of Tokyo research institutes and inter-organizational courses affiliated with development assistance agencies (JBIC and JICA). Together, all these courses form a system designed to efficiently achieve our department's educational objectives.
Although a mere seven years have passed since our department's founding, our graduates are already active to a remarkable degree at a variety of organizations inside and outside Japan, including international cooperation institutes, development assistance agencies, consulting firms, NGOs/NPOs, and general businesses. The world is filled with service opportunities that stimulate our intellectual curiosity and sense of justice. However, it is not good enough just to go rushing off to the front lines, so we place strong emphasis on comprehensively enhancing communication skills, from those needed in field data collection to those necessary for sorting and disseminating that data.
All prospective applicants, whether currently studying in undergraduate programs or working out in the real world, are invited to join our department and pursue the "science of optimal management of global public goods" in order to realize, as universal value for the 21st century, sustainable co-existence and co-prosperity on a global scale. Please use our program as springboard to attain your inspired dreams.

ISHIWATARI,Mikio
HONDA, Riki
NAKAYAMA, Mikiyasu
YAMAJI, Eiji

HORITA, Masahide
SAKAMOTO, Maiko

MINATO, Takayuki
SUZUKI, Aya

IKEMOTO, Yukio
SATO, Jin
OSHITA, Seiichi

NAKATANI, Kazuhiro
KASE, Kazutoshi

NAKAGAWA, Junji
SHOJI, Hitoshi