Seijo University

Seijo University is a private university in Tokyo, which is home to around 6,000 students. Its tree-lined campus is located in a quiet, residential part of the city, but is well connected by public transport to busier parts of the Japanese capital.

The university has four schools offering graduate and undergraduate courses: economics, arts and literature, law, and social innovation. There are just over 150 professors and lecturers on the faculty.

While Seijo University was founded in 1960, it is part of an educational institute that dates back to 1917. That year, Dr. Mastaro Sawayanagi, an influential figure in modern Japanese education, founded an experimental primary school. As time passed, a junior school, high school and eventually a university were added to the project. In a nod to its tradition, the university attempts to keep its class sizes small to encourage close interaction between students and teachers.

The university has exchange agreements with 14 overseas universities, including the universities of Sheffield and Strasbourg. Exchange students can take part in intensive Japanese lessons and organized cultural experiences.

Over 80 clubs and societies form part of Seijo University’s extracurricular activity scene. The university has a training centre, with a gym and swimming pool. It also has use of several lodges on the outskirts of Tokyo which are used by some of these clubs. This includes a base in the Hakuba Tsugaike area, from where students can go mountain climbing and skiing.

The university hosts the Institute of Folklore studies, which studies traditional Japanese culture. It holds 37,000 records donated by Professor Kunio Yanagita, who is widely regarded as the first academic to pursue the subject of Japanese folklore in depth.

Notable alumni of Seijo University include Tsutomu Hata, who had a nine-week spell as Japan’s prime minister in 1994.