One of five universities in the strategically important city at the south-west tip of Honshu, largest and most populous of Japan’s islands, Shimonoseki University is a municipal institution which has developed steadily from its foundation as a Junior College of Commerce in 1956.
Receiving its charter as Shimonoseki City University, a monotechnic specialising in economics, in 1962, it now has departments of economics, international commerce and public management and, since 2000, a Graduate School.
Politically significant as the powerbase of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Shimonoseki is also renowned as the base for much of Japan’s whaling fleet and as its "Fugu Capital", accounting for 80 per cent of the catch of the famously lethal pufferfish delicacy.
The accreditation report from the Association of Japanese Universities in 2016 reflects the university’s involvement with its region, pointing to its declared purpose of "contributing to developing local and international society" and "education and research rooted in the community as an intellectual centre in local society".
It was commended under the heading of "Social Cooperation and Contribution”, the report noting the expectation that staff should be involved in local and regional projects, the libraries and museums devoted to both whaling and pufferfish, and the research and open lecture series conducted by the Institute for Collaborative City Development.
Similar involvement is also encouraged from the students who, from the first year on, are offered the opportunity to take part in "cooperative research projects". An Australian exchange student pointed in 2018 to the benefits of small classes, helpful administrative staff and the paucity of English speakers in the city, assisting concentration on Japanese.
