Professor Miyata from the Department of Media Engineering of Engineering Facultyteaches “Media and Global Society”, where students from the department collaborates with
Hong Kong students on research activities.

Media Engineering Department students of Professor Miyata Yoshiro, collaborates with
Hong Kong Polytechnic University School of Design students of Teaching Fellow Mr. Alex
Ho on research activities.

According to Professor Miyata, the mass production, mass consumption and mass waste
disposal of the modern society cause various global issues like environmental problems,poverty, wars and conflicts etc.. It is difficult for stake holders to understand these problems
if they don’t realize the causes. To remediate from these causes, we need to gradually
reduce our reliance on the mass manufacturing and production system, while setting ourgoal to build a sustainable society.

. The process of how things that support our lives are made, like food, energy and tools are
not visible to us. (Pre-packaged and microwave meals, air-conditioning). The motivation of making our own things because of curiosity or a will of challenging
ourselves is difficult to come by. (We could buy all our necessities while throwing away
broken objects without attempting to repair them). Its difficult to build a relationship with the people who make the crafts. (There is noconnection between the consumers and the makers)

This collaborative research project started in 2015 and has been carried on for the thirdyear. In May of 2016, two teachers and ten students from the Hong Kong Polytechnic
University visited the Chukyo University Toyota Campus for one week. They joined theclass from the Media Engineering Department, as well as observing the skills of local
craftsmen and attending workshops where crafts are made from natural resources. Fromthese, the students build up their curiosities and urges to challenge themselves. They learnt
about the value of natural environment and resources through traditional craftsmanshipworkshops from Toyota City Asuke District and the Obara area.

(Photo)Obara craft washi paper making workshop (Obara Washi Museum)Starting from 2017, Mr. Hussein Zanaty (Egypt), English lecturer of the Kitami City Boardof Education also joined the activity. And in 2018, twenty six students from the Hong Kong
Polytechnic University visited and did fieldworks with the Chukyo University students duringweekend. During class time afterwards, they had group presentations on research topics
about foods (local production, local consumption, handling of food waste, the differences invalue of food between Hong Kong and Japanese culture etc.) and crafts (tools and thehistory of bamboo crafts, paper, knives, cloth etc.). With the support of 10 students from theDepartment of World English, they had an extensive discussion about sustainability andcraft making.

(Comments from Professor Miyata)

Students are energized by these experience activities and we look forward to theircontribution to building a sustainable society in the future.

As for the collaborative research, by cooperating between Hong Kong and Japan, utilizing
the knowledge gained by fieldworks of Toyota city, linking up with partner researchers fromregions in Japan like Hakodate, Nagoya, Wakayama etc., we are collecting the knowledge
and creating a standard model. Also by collaborating with educator partners from 50
different countries through the World Museum Project to implement the activities andintegrate the acquired knowledge, we plan to build a sustainable society framework thatcan be applied around the world.