A Deep Transformative Dimension of ESD in Japanese University: From Experiential to Emancipatory Learning in Online and Offline Environments

(1) Japanese universities have an important role in the sustainability of the students who are “oppressed” by social norms, while some of the Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) practices take a conventional approach. The purpose of this study is to take an educational programme as a case study on sustainability of oneself, others, and nature at a university in Tokyo, to compare the programme before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to illustrate what elaboration is required for the future programme. (2) This study used literature on the ESD framework for deeper learning and the Japanese youth as well as descriptive data such as observation and reflection of the participants in the ESD practice. (3) The relationships are confirmed among experiential, social, and transformative learnings in the formal and informal settings. The dynamics in the education about, in, and for sustainability is shown with education theory. The study shows a deeper dimension of self-transformation of the students in the online and offline learning environments. (4) The study suggests that the ESD programme with participatory and transformative approaches as socialisation and subjectification can lead the emancipation from “business as usual” for the Japanese university students when they accept new perspectives through the process of self-discovery and dialogues with others.