Profile of Meiji University
Meiji University was established in 1881 as a law school. The private institution has nine departments today–law, commerce, political science and economics, business administration, arts and letters, information and communication, global Japanese studies, science and technology, and agriculture.
Nearly 30,000 students study at the university’s three campuses in Tokyo and Kanagawa Prefecture–Surugadai in Chiyoda Ward; Izumi in Suginami Ward; and Ikuta in Kawasaki.
Meiji has been designated by the education ministry as a higher educational institution promoting an international outlook, thus attracting students from foreign countries as well as encouraging its students to study abroad.
The university has many well-known figures among its alumni, including Takeo Miki, who served as a prime minister in the 1970s, and Senichi Hoshino, a manager for the national baseball team during the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
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Today’s College Scene / Meiji students learn about home, abroad
Shoko Okuda / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer
The following is an excerpt from The Yomiuri Shimbun series “Today’s College Scene,” which visits a different university each week.
A short walk from the east exit of bustling JR Kanda Station in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, the streets grow noticeably quieter, and passersby cannot miss the voices ringing out from the entrance of a colorfully decorated seafood shop, inviting customers to come inside.
The welcoming sales clerks, however, are actually commerce students at Meiji University. The shop–Nagomima Senka–opened in June 2006 as part of a program by the school’s commerce department to give students the opportunity to learn independence and problem-solving. The program also aims to boost the local economy.
Currently, the shop is managed by 24 sophomores under the instruction of Prof. Yoshiaki Kumazawa, 54, whose specialty is small and midsize businesses.
The Nagomima Senka project is a collaboration with the municipal government of Miura, Kanagawa Prefecture. The students are in charge of everything at the shop, including buying goods such as processed tuna products and marketing them at the shop.
Nagomima Senka occupies a building that used to be a more than 100-year-old clothing shop until it was closed by owner Shoichiro Kato, 80. “The students really cheer us up, and we’ve been getting to know them,” Kato said.
Takahiro Tsunoda, the group’s leader, said the project has brought students face-to-face with the difficulty involved in running a shop and the economic doldrums found in many old shopping districts.
“We’ve been seeing an increase in repeat customers,” the 21-year-old added. “We’re hoping to become recognized as a highlight of Kanda.”
Tsunoda is studying to get a license as a business consultant for small and midsize companies. “I’d like to work at a food company in the future,” he said. “I could advise retailers on selling our products and other business matters.”
Meiji’s School of Commerce, Kumazawa said, is a traditional department providing its students with practical experience.
The private university also has been working to increase its international outlook. It launched the School of Global Japanese Studies in 2008 to serve as the heart of this policy.
“We believe that internationalization will help us take greater strides toward the future,” Meiji University President Hiromi Naya, 70, said. “We aim to foster internationally minded human resources, while at the same time opening up the school to the world.”
The newly established department offers intensive English programs so its students can promote Japanese culture to the rest of the world. The students study pop culture such as manga, contemporary art and traditional culture, in addition to the business side of these things.
The department also encourages Japanese students to interact with foreign students to get a better understanding of different cultures.
One good example for this may be holding lunch sessions between Japanese and foreign students twice a week on the Izumi campus in Suginami Ward, Tokyo, one of Meiji’s three campuses and home of the School of Global Japanese Studies. They are organized by a student committee promoting international exchange.
During a recent visit by The Yomiuri Shimbun, about 20 Japanese students and students from Taiwan, South Korea and Turkey were busy talking over lunch about their studies and hobbies.
“Through interacting with foreign students, I learn about not only their cultures, but also more about my own,” says Yuma Suenaga, 19, a sophomore who serves as the leader of the committee.
(Dec. 10, 2009)
Profile of Meiji University
Nearly 30,000 students study at the university’s three campuses in Tokyo and Kanagawa Prefecture–Surugadai in Chiyoda Ward; Izumi in Suginami Ward; and Ikuta in Kawasaki.Meiji has been designated by the education ministry as a higher educational institution promoting an international outlook, thus attracting students from foreign countries as well as encouraging its students to study abroad.The university has many well-known figures among its alumni, including Takeo Miki, who served as a prime minister in the 1970s, and Senichi Hoshino, a manager for the national baseball team during the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
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