Japan

Between Us: U of T alumna Cailleah Scott-Grimes focuses her lens on relationships, difficult conversations

Christopher.Sorensen — Tue, 13 Jul 2021 14:48:10 +0000

Between Us: U of T alumna Cailleah Scott-Grimes focuses her lens on relationships, difficult conversations

Christopher.Sorensen Tue, 07/13/2021 - 10:48

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With a degree in East Asian studies from U of T, Cailleah Scott-Grimes filmed her short Between Us over four days in rural Japan using actors from the LGBTQ2S+ and seniors communities (photo courtesy of Cailleah Scott-Grimes)

Rebecca Mangra

Topic

City & Culture

East Asian studies

Alumni

Faculty of Arts & Science

Film

Most people snap a picture or take in the panoramic views when in the mountains. Cailleah Scott-Grimes, however, decided to shoot a short film.

The University of Toronto alumna recently screened her film, Between Us, at Toronto’s recent Inside Out film festival. The short, which won this year’s Lindalee Tracey Award at the Hot Docs Film Festival, follows Kei, a young transgender man, and his queer Canadian partner as they navigate conflicting desires in rural Japan.

Part of Scott-Grimes’s master’s thesis in York University’s film production program, Between Us was filmed in four days in the hot springs of Japan’s Yamagata mountains in November 2019. It features both the LGBTQ2S+ and seniors communities in Japan’s countryside – each important worlds for Scott-Grimes. She says it took her a long time to forge connections in Japan, but that she eventually found them within LGBTQ2S+ communities, and the trans communities specifically.

“Yamagata was where I was living and I decided to film there so I could engage with my friends in the behind the scenes of making the film and bring in new actors,” says Scott-Grimes, who was an East Asian studies (EAS) and visual studies student in U of T’s Faculty of Arts & Science. “I wanted to weave a story that would talk about the relationship between immigrants in Japan and locals living in a rural area.

“It was cool to bring together trans folks and seniors who would never normally have a chance to meet or work on a project together.”

The filming and casting processes were arduous, but Scott-Grimes says she felt strongly about the project and its story. There were extensive interviews for casting since there was a priority to cast trans and non-binary people in the lead roles. Due to a lack of representation at traditional agencies, she used word-of-mouth to find the actors she needed to tell the film’s narrative in an authentic way.

“It was one of the hardest projects I’ve ever done – for that same reason, it’s also what made it exciting. All of it was about building trust because it was the first time for them [the actors] and also a challenge for me to work in Japanese. I think it set the stage for everyone being more vulnerable and open to trying something new together.”

Between Us (Official Trailer, 2021) from Cailleah Scott-Grimes on Vimeo.

Scott-Grimes has been travelling to Japan for many years on various projects since her graduation from U of T in 2011. A linguaphile and art lover, she says East Asian cultures and languages were not on her radar when she began her studies at U of T.

“I’ve been an artist of various kinds for my entire life,” she says. “When I first came to U of T, I thought I would focus on the visual arts side, but because I love all these other art forms, I eventually realized that film combines all of these mediums. Specifically, I was interested in Japanese films but didn’t know much about them until taking EAS courses. They opened my eyes to Japanese visual art, contemporary painting and film, which were huge influences.”

Scott-Grimes cites EAS Professor Eric Cazdyn and Associate Professor Jotaro Arimori as inspirations.

“There was a Japanese cinema course taught by Professor Cazdyn, which was absolutely pivotal for me. His courses demonstrated different types of filmmaking approaches, some of which, like [Hirokazu] Koreeda’s films, bridge documentary and fiction to create an intimate fly-on-the-wall feeling of family life.

Scott-Grimes adds that the department provided an ideal foundation for her later work.

“I loved Arimori sensei’s classes – he was really fun and so organized,” she says. “It was a great stepping stone to being in Japan and starting to use Japanese more frequently.

“At EAS, the focus was really on staying curious and open-minded. It was allowing other people’s experiences to really shine through – for example, taking interdisciplinary approaches and not looking at things from one angle. Those things were so important to learn – a film lives and dies in your ability to collaborate.”

Her advice for new graduates? “If you’ve got an interest or passion, follow it – no matter how small or niche it may seem.”

She offers an example from her own life in which she is an a capella singer in addition to being a film maker. One day, she says, someone called her about an opportunity to film a capella concerts in Japan – a collision of her interests she never saw coming.

“Whatever your interests or talents are, somebody is out there looking for you. Think about what your strengths are and what excites you.”

For Scott-Grimes, what excites her is film and the possibilities of artistic storytelling. When asked what people should take away from Between Us, she says she hopes that audiences can think deeply about the relationships in their lives and what tough questions are not being answered.

“I see this film as asking: How do we initiate conversations that are difficult to have? We know we need to have them, but don’t know where to start. Even within the umbrella of LGBTQ2S+, there is so much variety and so many different kinds of experiences. I wanted the film to be a bridge between generations, different cultural backgrounds and identities. It’s meant to spark questions and hope.”

U of T and Fujitsu extend agreement to collaborate on cutting-edge computing research

rahul.kalvapalle — Fri, 06 Nov 2020 16:45:48 +0000

U of T and Fujitsu extend agreement to collaborate on cutting-edge computing research

rahul.kalvapalle Fri, 11/06/2020 - 11:45

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(image via Zoom)

Rahul Kalvapalle

Topic

Global Lens

Industry Partnerships

Electrical & Computer Engineering

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Research & Innovation

The University of Toronto and Japan’s Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd. have agreed to renew, for three years, a partnership that seeks to advance innovative computing research projects with wide-scale applications.

The partnership extension was marked this week by a transglobal videoconference that included Fujitsu CEO Hirotaka Hara and U of T President Meric Gertler, as well as other senior leaders and researchers.

The group discussed the progress of the partnership – which launched in 2018 and involved the establishment of the Fujitsu Co-Creation Research Laboratory at U of T’s Myhal Centre for Engineering Innovation & Entrepreneurship – and what can be achieved in the future.

“Fujitsu is one of the world’s most admired companies and Fujitsu Laboratories is a major engine of research and development in leading innovation clusters around the world including Beijing, Silicon Valley, London and now, of course, Toronto,” President Gertler said during the videoconference.

“The University of Toronto and our department of electrical and computer engineering both enjoy very high rankings globally, and we are the academic anchor of an impressive innovation ecosystem here in the Toronto region.”

Since its launch, the Fujitsu Co-Creation Research Laboratory has been credited with such major advancements as the advent of the Digital Annealer, a computing architecture that is inspired by quantum principles and can carry out operations beyond the scope of conventional computers, opening up potential applications in health care, drug discovery, finance, logistics, transportation and more.

Fujitsu also launched an R&D centre in Toronto in 2017 as part of its partnership with the university.

President Gertler said the collaboration between U of T and Fujitsu is testament to the richness of Toronto’s technology and innovation ecosystem.

“Toronto is increasingly recognized as a global investment destination,” he said. “The University of Toronto is a major factor in shaping that status and making Toronto so attractive, and the presence of Fujitsu Laboratories has helped raise this attractiveness even further”

Hara, who was appointed the CEO of Fujitsu Laboratories in 2019, said the company is excited about its ongoing association with U of T and the potential research outcomes of the partnership.

“As a global brand, Fujitsu is always looking for innovative solutions to real-world problems,” he said. “Through this partnership, we have the opportunity to work with world-class researchers to contribute to social impact.”

He added that the Fujitsu Co-Creation Research Laboratory was responsible for important developments.

“The Digital Annealer is a great example of the exciting technology we have been developing together. Therefore, we would like to engage in future research of the Digital Annealer with U of T with greater outcomes.”

The partnership between U of T and Fujitsu Labs can be traced back more than two decades to 1998, when Professor Ali Sheikholeslami, then a PhD student in electrical engineering at U of T, did a six-week internship at Fujitsu Labs.

Following the internship, Sheikholeslami continued to work with Fujitsu Lab researchers, and a formal collaboration was established after Sheikholeslami was hired as a faculty member at the Edward S. Rogers. Sr. department of electrical and computer engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering.

Today, Sheikholeslami is the head of the Fujitsu Co-Creation Research Laboratory, which has engaged more than 10 faculty members and 25 graduate students and post-doctoral researchers from fields ranging from electrical, computer, mechanical and industrial engineering to medicine, finance and statistics.

In collaboration with Fujitsu, Sheikholeslami said the researchers aim to improve the speed, accuracy and flexibility of the Digital Annealer technology. He added quantum computing is another promising avenue.

“We would like to collaborate with Fujitsu and expand our collaboration into the area of quantum computing,” Sheikholeslami said. “As you know, a quantum computer is a natural extension of the Digital Annealer.

“What we would like to do is build quantum computing systems in the near future. We have a lot of expertise at U of T – all the expertise that it takes to build this quantum processing unit. We have expertise in physics, hardware, algorithm and in software. We will be discussing the possible collaboration.”

Sheikholeslami said U of T and Fujitsu have applied for – or are in the process of applying for – patents on a range of inventions. “More inventions are in the making, and there’s a possibility now of U of T and Fujitsu co-creating startups for the first time,” he said.

In his closing remarks, President Gertler lauded the progress achieved by the partnership and highlighted that the best is yet to come.

“As the platform expands now to include even more disciplines, no doubt it will enable even greater accomplishments in the years to come,” he said. “I, for one, will be truly delighted to follow its progress.”

Learn more about industry partnerships at U of T

Avoid the lines at High Park: Five fascinating things to consider before viewing U of T's cherry blossoms

Romi Levine — Mon, 06 May 2019 16:39:52 +0000

Avoid the lines at High Park: Five fascinating things to consider before viewing U of T's cherry blossoms

Romi Levine Mon, 05/06/2019 - 12:39

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Cherry blossoms are beginning to bloom outside of Robarts Library on the downtown Toronto campus (all photos by Romi Levine)

Topic

Warm spring weather means the cherry blossoms outside of Robarts Library at the University of Toronto are finally blooming.

The 70 Japanese cherry trees, also known as sakura, were originally given to the university as a gift from the Consulate General of Japan in the early 2000s. They’re now an annual showpiece, attracting visitors from across the city who snap countless selfies with the photogenic backdrop.

There are also 50 cherry blossom trees at U of T Scarborough between the H-Wing and Social Sciences building.

When you go to check out the blooms, you’ll be participating in a tradition that’s over 1,300 years old – and one that now spans the globe.

U of T News went to the Cheng Yu Tung East Asian Library to speak with librarian Fabiano Takashi Rocha about the history and culture of cherry blossom viewing. Here’s what we found out:

History of hanami

Flower-viewing parties – events where people gather to view tree blossoms – date back to the 700s, says Rocha.

While they are associated with Japanese culture, the first events of this kind were believed to have taken place in China, he says, but with plum blossoms instead of cherry.

In Japan, the custom, known as hanami, first took place during the Heian period, which began in 794. The event was initially exclusive to the aristocracy, but by the 1600s, during the Edo or Tokugawa period, hanami was enjoyed by the elite and commoners alike, says Rocha.

You may recognize the work of famous Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai from “Th e Great Wave off Kanagawa ,” but he also painted other scenes of Japanese life and nature, like this one, featuring cherry blossom trees. Both works of art are part of a series called “Thirty-six views of Mount Fuji”

Picnic in the park

“In many ways, Japanese cherry blossoms and hanami became part of the national identity,” says Rocha.

Today, he says, Japanese families, friends and co-workers flock to groves of sakura to have picnics under the trees, either with food they prepare themselves or bento decorated with cherry blossom motifs sold by vendors at some of the bigger parks.

“It's an opportunity for people to bond and enjoy the very ephemeral beauty of the sakura, which is there for a very limited amount of time,” Rocha says.

Kanpai!

Along with lunch, Rocha says it’s tradition to drink sake, Japanese rice wine, during hanami.

“The first time I did a cherry blossom viewing in Japan, they said if you hold your sake cup and if a petal falls into your cup, that’s a sign of good luck,” he says.

Japanese artist Andō Hiroshige captured cherry blossoms in bloom outside Kyoto’s Kyomizu Hall in the 1800s, printed here in the 2007 book Meisho Edo hyakkei: hizō Iwasaki korekushon

Deeper meaning

What draws people to cherry blossoms year after year? Rocha says it’s more than just their beauty.

“It’s because of the transience,” he says. “You know it’s not going to be there for a very long time, so you want to enjoy as much as you can. There’s a connection to the cycles of life – you know death is probably inevitable but while you’re alive you should be enjoying the beauty of life.”

Cherry blossoms are, indeed, only in bloom for a short period – about four to 10 days.

Cherry blossoms appear in literature as well as art, says Rocha. Here, a woman is depicted attaching a poem about her lover to a sakura that reads “On meeting again, there will be sorrows / How fleeting are the cherry blossoms”

Blossom biodiversity

There are over 200 species of cherry blossoms, says Rocha.

The most common type is the Yoshino, he says, which is the kind you will see outside of Robarts.

Most sakura are cultivated by people, but there are some that grow in the wild. They include the Yamazakura, which often grows in Japan’s mountainous regions.

Snapped a selfie with cherry blossoms at Robarts or U of T Scarborough? Share it on social media using #UofTBlooms for a chance to be featured on U of T channels.

U of T Varsity Blues host Japanese hockey team

rasbachn — Tue, 22 Aug 2017 14:04:15 +0000

U of T Varsity Blues host Japanese hockey team

rasbachn Tue, 08/22/2017 - 10:04

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The men's hockey team from Keio University is at U of T for a weeklong training camp (Twitter photo of Keio team)

Topic

Subheadline

Training camp to include an exhibition game between the two teams

It will be an unusual pairing for Thursday night’s exhibition hockey game at Varsity Arena: the home team will be the University of Toronto Varsity Blues; the visitors, all the way from Tokyo – the men’s hockey team from Keio University.

The game is the culmination of a training camp hosted by the Varsity Blues this week for the team from the Japanese private university located in Minato, Tokyo.

“The University of Toronto is invested in giving students international experience, so when this was initiated by Keio University for an exchange in men's hockey, we jumped at the opportunity,” says Beth Ali, executive director of athletics & physical activity for the Varsity Blues.

The training camp features on-ice practices with the Varsity Blues and head coach Ryan Medel, power skating sessions, strength and conditioning workouts at U of T's Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport, and a lecture from Olympic gold medallists and Varsity Blues women's hockey coaches Vicky Sunohara and Jayna Hefford.

"We're excited to host Keio University and are looking forward to the experience with them," Medel says. "I think it'll be great for our student-athletes and coaching staff to interact and learn about the university hockey system in Japan, as well as their culture. An international relationship is so unique and beneficial for both programs involved."

Thursday night’s game is free and open to the public. The puck drops at 7 p.m.

Trip to Japan offers U of T students a chance to explore key city-building issues

ullahnor — Thu, 20 Apr 2017 21:28:19 +0000

Trip to Japan offers U of T students a chance to explore key city-building issues

ullahnor Thu, 04/20/2017 - 17:28

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U of T Scarborough students who participated in the exchange program in Japan. From left to right, Da Chen, Yasna Kharadi, Khliden Lamparero, Thomas Dybowski, Tumaini Shoo and Anastasia Abrazhevich (photo courtesy of Khliden Lamparero)

Raquel A. Russell

Author legacy

Raquel A. Russell

Topic

Global Lens

Global

International

Undergraduate Education

Japan

Cities

U of T Scarborough

Six students in city and geography studies at U of T Scarborough spent 10 days in Japan earlier this year, gaining a deeper knowledge of the country's community-building initiatives.

Students spent time at the University of Tokyo during the trip in January, making connections with their host families and visiting Tokyo and Tōhoku, which was devastated by the tsunami in 2011.

The all-expenses-paid exchange program for Canadian undergraduates also included students from Ryerson University and the University of Waterloo. The trip to Japan was followed by planning students from the University of Tokyo and Waseda University travelling to Toronto last month.

“Working with the Japanese students was a really great experience,” says Da Chen, a fifth-year student in city studies. “The exchange of ideas really helped us gain a better understanding of our representative cities.”

Human Geography Professor Andre Sorensen, the main organizer for the exchange, said the event was part of an initiative by the Japanese government to thank Canada for contributions to post-disaster recovery efforts after the 2011 tsunami in Tōhoku.

“The goal is to build a network of young people who will go on to build ties between our two countries,” he says.

Chen was interested in learning about the public-private collaboration in the planning, construction and management of the transit system in Tokyo and how it could be applied in Toronto.

“We have many similar policy issues,” says Sorensen. “The exchange program provides opportunities for people to be able to discuss their differences and similarities.”

For Khliden Lamparero, a fourth-year city and mental health studies student, visiting the rural towns in Tōhoku that were affected by the 2011 tsunami, provided the most powerful lessons.

“Learning the stories of the people that survived the event or who lost loved ones, and the Japanese people's resilience and eagerness in helping to build their community again was truly a humbling experience,” says Lamparero.

Back in Toronto, Canadian undergraduates returned the favour when University of Tokyo students visited them last month, taking them around the city and using their city studies knowledge to answer questions about planning and development

A formal goodbye to the participants took place on March 24 at the Consul General of Japan’s residence where Sorensen and a few of his colleagues delivered lectures about Toronto, its history and the development patterns of immigrant suburbs.

U of T establishes first-in-Canada chair in Japanese politics and global affairs

ullahnor — Thu, 30 Mar 2017 16:00:34 +0000

U of T establishes first-in-Canada chair in Japanese politics and global affairs

ullahnor Thu, 03/30/2017 - 12:00

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The endowment will enable the university to recruit a top expert in the politics, diplomacy, security and global affairs of Japan (photo by Caribb via Flickr)

Diana Kuprel

Author legacy

Diana Kuprel

Topic

Global Lens

Japan

Faculty of Arts & Science

Japan is contributing US$5 million to the University of Toronto to establish an endowed chair in Japanese politics and global affairs, and to launch a Centre for the Study of Global Japan.

The University of Toronto is the first Canadian university to receive such support from the Japanese government.

The announcement comes on the heels of the Japan-Canada Summit in May 2016 when Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe noted that Japan wished to support Japanese studies at Canadian universities in order to promote mutual understanding between the two countries.

“At a time when we are experiencing significant changes and instability on the global stage, Japan and Canada, as members of G7 countries that share common values, have a responsibility to make contributions to the world community that ensure peace and prosperity,” said Yasunori Nakayama, the consul general of Japan in Toronto. “We also share common challenges such as terrorism, global warming and our aging populations. It is therefore imperative that our academic institutions are able to conduct extensive research that enables us to properly understand each other. The University of Toronto is one of the oldest, biggest and most influential universities in Canada. I am delighted that an institution as prestigious as the University of Toronto now has the means to significantly broaden its study of contemporary Japan with a global perspective.”

“The University of Toronto has a keen, long-standing interest in Japan because of its importance on the world stage and the strong political, economic and cultural ties between our two countries,” says U of T President Meric Gertler. “We are deeply honoured, therefore, to have been selected by the Government of Japan for this landmark endowment, which will extend and amplify our impact in the study of Japan as a major global power.”

The University of Toronto is home to Canada’s first department of East Asian studies and has substantial expertise in the field. The gift will enable the university to recruit a top expert in the politics, diplomacy, security and global affairs of Japan. The chair-holder will be cross-appointed to the department of political science and U of T's Munk School of Global Affairs at the Faculty of Arts & Science.

In the interim, David Welch will be appointed the inaugural visiting chair. Welch, a professor of political science at the University of Waterloo, holds the Centre for International Governance Innovation Chair of Global Security at the Balsillie School of International Affairs.

“The endowed chair will secure the permanent presence here of a scholar who studies the political dimensions of Japan’s vital contributions to regional and global order,” said Professor Louis Pauly, chair of the department of political science.

The chair will also lead the Centre for the Study of Global Japan.

The centre, which will be housed at Munk, will expand teaching, research and public outreach by bringing together scholars of Japan from across the university and beyond, as well as practitioners and others interested in the country and the region. It will organize a permanent lecture and seminar series, anchored by an annual lecture by an eminent analyst of Japanese politics and diplomacy.

“The centre will open up more bilateral opportunities to build strong relationships and lifelong interests in Japanese politics and global affairs,” says Munk School of Global Affairs Director Stephen Toope. “This partnership will ensure that the university is able to promote and disseminate knowledge of contemporary Japan to the next generation of leaders, especially important during this time of dramatic change.”

From U of T to Ishinomaki: future city builder David Wang embraces Japan’s DIY spirit

Romi Levine — Mon, 06 Mar 2017 20:47:44 +0000

From U of T to Ishinomaki: future city builder David Wang embraces Japan’s DIY spirit

Romi Levine Mon, 03/06/2017 - 15:47

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U of T alumnus David Wang has learned everything from furniture building to marketing at Ishinomaki Labs (photo courtesy of David Wang)

Romi Levine

Author legacy

Romi Levine

Topic

City & Culture

Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy

Faculty of Arts & Science

They're the new generation of Toronto city builders.

Meet the ambitious University of Toronto students and recent grads poised to become big players in shaping the city’s identity and contributing to its growth.

This ongoing series from Romi Levine, who covers the city beat for U of T News, shares their stories.

After an earthquake in 2011 ravaged Japan, the small city of Ishinomaki was in ruins. Over 3,000 people were dead, and more than 50,000 buildings were either damaged or destroyed.

Out of the rubble came a small furniture workshop called Ishinomaki Laboratory, founded by Tokyo-based architect Keiji Ashizawa. The lab's focus was to teach residents how to fix their houses and build their own furniture, helping to restore normality and rebuild the city.

University of Toronto alumnus David Wang learned about Ishinomaki Laboratory in 2015 during his final year of university when he was studying abroad in Tokyo.

“It's an authentic story of how a community used basic tools to slowly pick themselves up,” says Wang, who majored in Asia-Pacific studies and East Asian studies at U of T's Munk School of Global Affairs.

Wang began his forays into Asia as an undergrad with brief trips abroad. He participated in a Woodsworth Summer Abroad course taught in Shanghai, and in his third year, he went on one of the Faculty of Arts & Science's international course module (ICM) trips, travelling to China’s Yanbian Autonomous Prefecture. (See a blog about the trip.) He also travelled to Taiwan to film a documentary with fellow student and filmmaker Betty Xie (also supported by the Faculty of Arts & Science) and in 2014 he spent a year abroad at Waseda University.

He was supported by the Dr. David Chu Scholarship and the Northrop Frye Centre Undergraduate Award. The latter award subsidized research trips to the devastated Tohoku region, where Wang learned about community-based, grassroots initiatives started after the 2011 disaster for local and regional revitalization

After interning with Ishinomaki in the summer of 2015, he was hired hired full time a year later.

The company has since evolved to become a profitable furniture company that sells mostly minimalistic wooden items. As a project manager, Wang plays a big part in helping Ishinomaki expand internationally.

“The overseas expansion was a good fit for my skills. It was something I felt like I could immediately contribute to,” he says.

The company only has five full-time staff so Wang has had to become a jack-of-all-trades. Not only is Wang taking on international distribution, he’s also Ishinomaki’s marketer and translator. He’s even become adept in the workshop – learning how to build, drill, sand and pack furniture.

Wang says he has a new appreciation for hands-on work.

“Right now, at least in North America, what's really popular is tech-literacy like coding,” he says. “Woodworking, working with your hands – I see it as old-school programming using these tools. You’re making stuff through a series of logical processes, and you're shooting for a finished product to solve something. It’s design thinking.”

Ishinomaki Laboratory is still loyal to its do-it-yourself roots – it continues to hold workshops in the city and all over Asia.

This past weekend, Wang was in Singapore running a stool-building workshop for the city’s Design Week. At the end of the month, the lab is heading to the Philippines to teach residents of a gentrifying Manila neighbourhood how to build furniture.

“We're working with these people to see if what we learned in Ishinomaki and the spirit of DIY can be transmitted as a cultural exchange,” Wang says. “It’s a worldwide movement.”

Wang says he wouldn’t have pursued job opportunities in Japan were it not for his time studying abroad.

“It's good to have these kinds of experiences when you're young because you still have a malleable mindset, and it really can expand your mind to what’s possible,” he says. “It was a desire to actualize the knowledge I gained in the classroom – put some meat around it.”

The chance to learn drew Wang to Japan, but Ishinomaki Laboratory is what convinced him to stick around.

“I'm a bit of an idealist at heart,” he says. “I don't really think I'm selling furniture, I'm selling the story. I'm presenting the story to consumers.”

Universities are gateways to opportunity and knowledge, Gertler tells international forum in Japan

lavende4 — Tue, 04 Oct 2016 15:31:39 +0000

Universities are gateways to opportunity and knowledge, Gertler tells international forum in Japan

lavende4 Tue, 10/04/2016 - 11:31

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University of Tokyo President Makoto Gonokami and University of Toronto President Meric Gertler after signing a Memoradum of Understanding between the two institutions

Terry Lavender

Author legacy

Terry Lavender

Topic

International Relations

President

Alumni

Universities are gateways – gateways of opportunity for young people, gateways to new knowledge, and gateways to their local regions and to the world, University of Toronto President Meric Gertler told delegates at a forum on science and technology in society this week.

The forum, which was also attended by U of T vice-president international Ted Sargent, was held in Kyoto, Japan. President Gertler participated in a panel on the role of universities, alongside Japan’s minister of education, culture, sport, science and technology. Sargent took part in a panel on the development of nano-industry.

Besides attending the science and technology forum in Kyoto, President Gertler also travelled to Tokyo where he met with U of T alumni and students.

He also signed collaboration and student exchange agreements with the president of the University of Tokyo and met with Ian Burney, the Canadian ambassador to Japan. The president was scheduled to arrive in Singapore on Oct. 5.

Great event & speech tonight in #tokyo with @UofT President Gertler and a fine bunch of @uoftalumni! #UofT pic.twitter.com/Vh1kYXEzjW
— Darren Menabney (@Darmenab) October 4, 2016

Universities are gateways of opportunity because they give students the tools and experience they need to succeed and thrive, President Gertler said at the forum, noting that a quarter of U of T’s domestic undergraduate students come from families with a household income under $50,000.

They’re gateways to new knowledge because they generate and collaborate on the research and innovation that drives the world, the president said. “Taken together, our institutions generate a vast amount of new knowledge, most of which finds its way into goods and services and ideas that improve and enrich the lives of the globe’s population.”

Finally, universities are geographical gateways – gateways to their local regions and to global knowledge networks.

“Our prosperity depends not only on the knowledge, know-how, and experience found at home, but also the knowledge originating in other leading centres of research and innovation around the world,” he said. “The new ideas, fresh perspectives, and novel approaches we encounter when crossing geopolitical and cultural borders help create new knowledge and solutions – by testing our assumptions, shifting the frame of reference, and offering new concepts.”

For Sargent, it was his first major international address since being appointed vice-president international early this year. A renowned researcher in nanotechnology, Sargent argued that the world should use low-cost, abundant renewable energies such as wind and solar to synthesize chemical fuels for energy storage, especially liquid carbon-based transportation fuels.

New technologies are emerging in university labs around the world – including the University of Toronto and the University of Tokyo – that can do this efficiently and effectively, Sargent said.

The result is renewable fuels that close the carbon cycle and reduce CO2 in the atmosphere, he said.

From Tokyo to Toronto: U of T students exchange knowledge

lavende4 — Tue, 26 Jul 2016 18:30:15 +0000

From Tokyo to Toronto: U of T students exchange knowledge

lavende4 Tue, 07/26/2016 - 14:30

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Andre Sorensen (right) shows the Tokyo students around the U of T campus (Bianca Quijano photo)

Bianca Quijano

Author legacy

Bianca Quijano

Topic

Not even jet lag can stop these future Japanese city planners from enjoying the sites that Toronto has to offer.

Students from the University of Tsukuba’s graduate program in Urban Planning are participating in an exchange with U of T Scarborough City Studies and Human Geography students.

As they walk through the bustling streets of the Spadina area, one Japanese student makes an observation that would seem surprising to a Toronto resident.

“It’s so much more peaceful here.”

From July 2 to July 9, 10 UTSC students travelled to Tokyo to learn about Japanese planning and the history of the city’s urbanization plans. They went on walking tours and attended seminars about recent planning issues, led by their Japanese counterparts. On July 10, they were accompanied by 13 Japanese students as they returned to Toronto.

Now, it’s the UTSC students’ turn to present workshops on local city planning issues and take their colleagues on tours of the city. The Japanese students will be here until Sunday. For the UTSC students, the trip is part of the course GGRC54H3, taught by Professor Andre Sorensen. He says that this hands-on approach puts all of the things that his students have learned into good use.

“They’re all experts on Toronto. So it’s a valuable project for them to prepare seminars to present the city's urban issues to our guests and think through the differences between Tokyo and Toronto,” Sorensen says.

Professor Sayaka Fujii came to UTSC in 2013 as a visiting professor. She wants her students to learn about Toronto’s planning issues and hopes that her students gain wider perspective from being able to see first-hand how a different culture tackles planning issues.

“Urban planning programs all over the world have different types of curriculum. Even some of the basic principles can be very different. I want my students to understand this and inform their future studies and professional work,” Fujii says.

For student Shohei Ono, getting over the culture shock is an education in itself.

“This is my first time travelling outside of Japan. I’ve never even been on an airplane until now,” says the first year Masters student.

Walking through the grounds at U of T’s St. George campus, Ono wants to learn about how the city preserves its historical sites.

“It’s very interesting to see the historical buildings because in Japan we have very few historical buildings left in the inner city of Tokyo. They are all demolished and replaced by new buildings. I’m interested to learn about the policy or laws that preserve these historical buildings.”

Ono’s classmate, Keisuke Akiho, also noticed immediate differences between Toronto and Tokyo.

“I was pleasantly surprised by the diversity of the people here. In Japan, we basically only have Japanese culture. Here cultures and peoples from all over the world are represented,” Akiho says.

So far, the Japanese students have gone on tours of Fort York, the Toronto International Film Festival building and Evergreen Brickworks. On a tour of Kensington Market, they heard from Yvonne Bambrick, founder of Cycle Toronto and author of The Urban Cycling Survival Guide to learn about the issues facing Toronto’s roads, motorists and cyclists. From UTSC students, they also learned about projects such as urban intensification in the King-Spadina neighbourhood and the Project under the Gardiner, which was covered by fourth year UTSC student Mahrukh Shabbir.

As she shares some candy she bought in Tokyo with her new friends, she reminisces about her time in Tokyo.

“They are so friendly and polite. When you bump into someone they will be the ones to apologize to you,” Mahrukh says.

She also realized that Toronto has much to learn from the Japanese, in terms of city planning. Particularly, she was impressed by the level of public involvement that the Japanese were able to muster in certain projects, especially those in their suburban neighbourhoods and how they were able to utilize technology to encourage participation.

“They have portals where people can identify and map their issues. Then they offer crowdsource funding and people actually donate, “she says. “For example, if I believe that there should be a stop sign in a certain intersection where there isn’t one I would go to the local community manager. Then they would help me set up a funding page where anyone can donate. Actually, their projects get overfunded in a way because so many people donate.”

This kind of new insight is exactly what Professor Sorensen hopes the students will gain from the exchange. Sorensen says that in the future, students will be able to go on exchanges to other cities such as New York, Chicago or Montreal.

“Working and living in a single city, you have often too much information. It’s hard to see the basic contours of the issues,” he says. “Whereas when you’re comparing different cities you see the big issues more clearly.”