Disruption to the status quo in education erupted from a worldwide pandemic in 2020. COVID-19 pushed university teaching to emergency online teaching. This disruption intersected with a national and international call for racial justice in the US and internationally. Challenges and new learnings emerged as teacher and learners worked to co-create an environment that nurtured the human spirit and promoted learning through the co-construction of knowledge and new pathways. Teaching and learning experiences for this exploratory case study based in Tokyo, Japan, were examined through aspects of two pedagogical approaches: Ikeda's value-creating pedagogy and Freire's critical pedagogy. Questions explored included: How to cultivate a sense of community and belonging in synchronous, online classes at the university level? How to enhance the relevance of course content to contemporary global issues for students from diverse socio-cultural contexts? And, how to guide students towards hope and increased agency while making meaning of class themes during a state of disruption? Featuring the importance of bringing the world into our learning spaces, exploring the possibilities, and connecting the relevance of global issues to student lives, new pathways were presented. The possibilities of deepening a sense of belonging, connection, and purpose were presented with the hope of imbuing an inspired perspective of advancing work in education that allows new transformative learning for both the student and teacher.