Sophia University Tokyo, Japan http://www.sophia.ac.jp Arts & Social Science units only 2 semesters of Japanese required City Population: 12 million Enrollment: 11,000 Standard Course Load: 12 Points ABOUT SOPHIA UNIVERSITY Centred on the Yotsuya Campus in the heart of Tokyo, In 1549 St. Francis Xavier arrived in Japan. In letters to Sophia University comprises 7 faculties for undergraduate Rome, Xavier wrote about his high regard for the human students and 7 divisions for graduate students, as well as qualities of the Japanese people and about his hopes to 13 affiliated research institutes and 9 centres found a university in the Japanese capital. These hopes were fulfilled with the foundation of Sophia University. The word "Sophia" was taken from the Greek and it means the COURSES wisdom which is expressed in ethical activities that further All exchange students will be places in the Faculty of the goals of human existence. In 1906 Pope Pius X made a Liberal Arts. UWA Students are required to take 2 request and the Society of Jesus accepted it. The Pope Japanese language classes and 2 other classes. Except asked the Society of Jesus to found a tertiary-level for language classes, all other classes are taught in English educational institution in Japan. The Jesuits agreed to do Department of Comparative Culture so. The Sophia University opened in 1913 under the Department of Japanese Language and Studies Japanese law regulating special schools. It included This faculty is on the Ichigaya campus. departments of philosophy, German literature, and commerce. SEMESTER DATES The first exchange student was sent to Georgetown Spring April to July University USA in 1935. In 1948 the university was Autumn September - January reorganized as Sophia University under the new Japanese educational system. It comprised five departments in the faculty of humanities (philosophy, German literature, English literature, history, and journalism) and two departments in the faculty of economics (economics and commerce). 2 HOUSING of World War II. During the war, Tokyo was heavily Sophia University offers three types of housing: bombed, much of the city was burned to the ground, and its Homestay population in 1945 was only half that of 1940. students will be expected by the host family to be able to spend a great deal of time with them In the post-war years, Japan experienced an economic Apartment mate – students are expected to be miracle (in part stimulated by the Korean War) that led it able to live and cooperate with each other in from post-war deprivation to tremendous economic Japanese-style community life success. In the process, Japan entered and very often Dormitory came to dominate a range of industries including steel, Sophia University Student Dormitory (men) – the shipbuilding, automobiles, semi-conductors, and consumer only on-campus dormitory electronics. Tokyo's postwar "coming out" is often said to Sophia University Enoki Ryo (women) – run by be the 1964 Summer Olympics, which publicized the city on sisters, curfew hours an international stage and brought global attention to the Japanese miracle. Wakeijuku (men) – private facility 5 Ships Women's Dormitory – commuting time is Tokyo prefecture has 23 special wards in an area of about approximately 1.5 hours – private facility 621 square kilometers. As of September 1, 2002 the total Apartment-style facility - Azalea House. Students will be population of the 23 wards was about 8.28 million, with a able to live more independently. However as these population density of 13,333 persons per square kilometer. dormitories are mostly for foreign students, you cannot Each ward is a local municipality with its own elected expect to communicate extensively in Japanese nor to mayors and assemblies: experience to any depth the Japanese life style and culture. Some famous places for sight-seeing in Tokyo include: Please note that the Overseas Liaison Section, Office of Japanese Imperial Palace (Kokyo) Academic Affairs, at Sophia makes a commitment of honour when it nominates a student to a dormitory slot or to Tokyo Tower a host family. Please do not 'comparison-shop' after we Tokyo National Museum have placed you in a housing situation. If you are actively Edo-Tokyo Museum seeking your own housing, be straightforward with this Ginza shopping district and the Kabukiza theater office from the beginning. We will not make housing Roppongi Hills, one of Tokyo's largest skyscrapers placements as back-ups for students who fail to locate their Akihabara electronics district own housing. Budokan and Tokyo Dome arenas Kabuki-cho, a famous entertainment district HEALTH INSURANCE Odaiba, a large artificial island in Tokyo Bay UWA has insurance to cover its outgoing exchange The Rainbow Bridge and Yurikamome monorail students: UWA Corporate Personal and Travel Policy. It is Akasaka Palace and Jingu Gaien Park usually accepted by the host universities as primary Meiji Shrine insurance. However, Sophia University will advise you if Ueno Park you need to take out your own, additional insurance Sumida Park Harajuku, hub of Japan's youth culture ABOUT TOKYO Nagata-cho, location of the Diet Building and other A little more than 12 million people live in Tokyo while government offices hundreds of thousands of others commute everyday from Sensoji temple in Asakusa surrounding areas to work and do business in Tokyo. Tokyo is the central place of politics, economy, culture and Tokyo Disney in nearby Urayasu academics in Japan as well as the home of the Japanese emperor and the seat of the national government, as well OTHER INFORMATION as a major business and financial centre for all of East Read the Sophia section in the blue files in the Study Asia. Abroad Office. You will find some very useful information from returned UWA students. It is unusual in that it has far fewer skyscrapers than other cities of its size, mostly due to earthquake construction CONTACTS codes: rather, it is mostly comprised of low-rise apartments Sophia University of six to ten floors and densely-packed family homes. Japanese - Tokyo is also home to the world's most complex mass http://www.sophia.ac.jp transit system, and is world-famous for its crowded rush English page - hours. http://www.sophia.ac.jp/E/E_toppage.nsf/ Tokyo has been generally accepted as the sole capital of Japan since 1869, when the Emperor took up permanent Our contact details: residence there. However, the capital was never legally UWA Study Abroad Office "transferred" to Tokyo, leading some to question whether http://www.international.uwa.edu.au/se/welcome Kyoto may still be the capital, or a co-capital. Tel: 6488 8199 [email protected] The Great Kanto earthquake struck Tokyo in 1923, killing approximately 70,000 people; a massive reconstruction plan was drawn up, but was too expensive to carry out except in part. Despite this, the city grew until the beginning 2 .