Sophia University

The history of Sophia University, the oldest catholic university in Japan, dates back to when the St. Francis Xavier visited to Japan in 1549. Xavier sent the message ” Establish a university in Japan ( Miyako ) ” to the Jesuit headquarters in Rome . Then, after a time of more than 350 years, in 1913, Sophia University was established in the land of [Kioi] of Tokyo.

From its founding, Sophia’s education is based on the Jesuit educational philosophy, “Men and Women for Others, with Others.” We celebrated the 100th anniversary in 2013, and summarized the mission – piled the philosophy of the founding to its own history and the future, “Sophia Bringing the World Together”.

People living in today’s society has faced a variety of problems. People in every position in society, whatever job they do, should exercise their knowledge and confront these problems. Be it one person or many, we want us to send out people with that kind of attitude—people who can transcend barriers of culture, language, generation, and academic discipline, and who can affect the world. For that purpose, Sophia University, with over a century of history behind it, has accepted the challenge of instituting reforms in order to create a new future.