東京女子大学 Tōkyō Joshi Daigaku |
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Reischauer House, Tokyo Woman's Christian University
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Motto | Quaecunque Sunt Vera |
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Motto in English
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Whatsoever Things Are True |
Type | Private |
Established | 1918 |
President | Shoko Ono |
Location |
Tokyo, Japan 35°42′40″N 139°35′25″E / 35.71111°N 139.59028°ECoordinates: 35°42′40″N 139°35′25″E / 35.71111°N 139.59028°E |
Website | http://office.twcu.ac.jp/o-board/twcu-e/text/index.html |
Tokyo Woman's Christian University (東京女子大学 Tōkyō Joshi Daigaku?), often abbreviated to Tonjo (東女 Tonjo?) or TWCU, is a university in Tokyo, Japan.
TWCU was established by Nitobe Inazō (1862-1933), an author, diplomat and educator, who was appointed as the first president in 1918. The first classes were held in Tsunohazu. In the 1880s, while Nitobe was a student at Johns Hopkins University in the United States, he became a member of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). The Quaker philosophy gave him a strong faith that Japanese women should be provided educational opportunities. Together with A.K. Reischauer (father of Edwin O. Reischauer) and Tetsu Yasui, he was dedicated to the foundation of Tokyo Woman’s Christian University.
The original TWCU campus in Iogi-mura, Toyotama-gun, to which the university moved in 1924, was built in the 1920s and is very significant architecturally. It was designed by Antonin Raymond who came to Tokyo with Frank Lloyd Wright to build the famous Imperial Hotel. The university includes seven registered tangible cultural properties, including the main building. In addition to TWCU’s beautiful garden, the campus includes open spaces and a small forest behind the main building. In the forest, there are various plants such as plum trees, cherry trees, dogwood trees and tall pine trees, as well as raccoon dogs and many crows. Although the campus is in an urban area, it is unusually green and spacious.