Special Lecture :
"From Plato to Ikiru
      ------ On the Examined Life and the Meaningful Death in the 'Stuck Society' with a Footnote from the Ritualization of Death in Early Modern Judaism"

Professor Hillel Levine, who is a specially appointed professor for the COE Project "Death and Life Studies", gave a workshop on Wednesday, June 25th. Professor Levine teaches and works globally, specializing in the Sociology of Judaism and the comparative sociology of religion.

As the title of the workshop suggests, moreover, Professor Levine has a growing interest in Japan. With about 30-40 people attending, the classroom for the workshop was completely filled, such that we had to bring chairs from other rooms. The talk and the discussion afterwards were mainly conducted in English.

The talk focused on exploring ways to break out of a society that Professor Levine described as "being stuck." He focused on how to formulate and practice a meaningful perspective of death and life in such a society, and focused on the process of the ritualization of death in early modern Judaic history as an example from which to draw possible answers and methods. As a comparative process in Japanese society, he discussed the film "Ikiru" by Akira Kurowasa, which was particularly interesting.

After about an hour long presentation by Professor Levine, a lively interaction and discussion followed in both English and Japanese. Professor Levine responded in a friendly and open attitude to the questions, and the active and inquisitive discussion was extended an extra twenty minutes.