Kansai University

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Kansai University
関西大学
Latin: Universitatis Kansaien
Motto	学の実化 (Academic Practicalization)
Established	Founded Nov. 4, 1886, Chartered Jun. 5, 1926
Type	Private
Endowment	US$1.3 billion (JP¥144.8 billion)
President	Teiichi Kawata
Faculty	534 full-time
Undergraduates	29,733
Postgraduates	1,546
Location	Suita, Osaka, Japan
Campus	Suburban / Urban, 191 acres (0.8 km²)
Athletics	45 varsity teams
Nickname	Kaisers
Mascot	Ambassador Magma (unofficial and historical)
Website	www.kansai-u.ac.jp

Kansai University (関西大学, Kansai daigaku^?), or Kandai (関大, Kandai^?), is a private non-sectarian and coeducational university located in Suita, Osaka, Japan and in two other locations: Osaka City; and Takatsuki, Osaka. It should not be confused with Kwansei Gakuin University (関西学院大学, Kansei gakuin daigaku^?), an entirely separate university in Nishinomiya, Hyogo.

1 Campus
2 History
3 Organization
4 Faculty
5 Students
6 Sports, clubs, and traditions
7 List of faculty
8 List of alumni
9 External links

[edit] Campus

Senriyama Campus:
3-3-35 Yamate-cho, Suita-shi, OSAKA 564-8680 JAPAN
Tel: +81-6-6368-1121

Takatsuki Campus:
2-1-1 Ryozenji-cho, Takatsuki-shi, OSAKA 569-1095 JAPAN
Tel: +81-6-6368-1121

Tokyo Center:
Daiya Yaesuguchi Bld, 8F 2-2-1 Yaesu, Chuo-ku, TOKYO 104-0028 JAPAN
Tel: +81-3-3231-5256

[edit] History

The Koshoji Temple, Kawachi-machi, Osaka, to which Kansai Law School, the forerunner of the University, moved soon after its opening in 1886 in the Ganshuji Temple, Kyomachi-bori, Osaka. Kansai University was founded as Kansai Law School in November 1886, in the large commercial city of Osaka. Its founders were six judicial officers who were in the service of the then Osaka Court of Appeal. In the early 1870s, the Ministry of Justice established its own law school. Western legal concepts, including that of human rights, were introduced into Japan by dis-tinguished foreign scholars engaged by the Ministry. The founders of Kansai Law School had all studied at this law school, under the French jurist Boissonade de Fontarabie *1. The idea of individual rights and legal processes independent of central governmental control were new to Japan. Long after the conclusion of their study with Dr. Boissonade, the founders continued to feel that these concepts were vital to the new Japan. They saw it as their duty to popularize jurisprudence in order to spread throughout the nation two notions: that of an independent judiciary, and that of human rights. From this sense of mission sprung the idea of founding a law school. They then sought and received the assistance and cooperation of Kojima Korekata *2, their superior (and later Chief Justice of Japan's Supreme Court), and Doi Michio, President of the Osaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Thus Kansai Law School made its start as the first law school located in Osaka. The founders taught that the law belongs to all citizens, and that, by means of the law, they can and should defend their own rights. This became the origin of the university's academic tradition of nurturing a love of justice and a concern for the protection of the freedom of the individual. Thanks to the support and trust it has won from the general public, our institution has since then steadily developed and diversified. In 1905 the institution was granted the title 'Kansai University,' and subsequently, in 1922, its main campus was removed to its present more extensive site in Suita (a suburb of Osaka), thus paving the way for later growth. In consequence of the educational reforms carried out soon after the end of the Second World War, Kansai University was able to avail itself of the new system in order to expand its scope for tuition so as to comprise four faculties: those of Law, Letters, Economics and Commerce. Its first Graduate School was established in 1950. Subsequent to this, its Faculty of Engineering was founded in 1958, followed in 1967 by the founding of its Faculty of Sociology. More recently (in 1994), and in response to the requirements of a global community united by access to information made available by electronic processing, a seventh faculty -that of Informatics- was instituted on a further campus, created just outside the dormitory-town of Takatsuki. Finally, its Institute of Foreign Language Education and Research was inaugurated in 2000. For many decades the Evening Courses were taught on a separate campus, located in the Tenroku area of Osaka, these originally constituting a Night School for students -many of them adults- already in employ. In 1994 the Evening Course was moved to the Senriyama Campus; and, in 2003, the University instituted an innovative 12 hour curriculum, one integrating both day and evening courses. Thus, at present, Kansai University offers seven faculties within its undergraduate Day School, and five faculties (Engineering and Informatics being the exceptions) within its undergraduate Evening School; at the same time it also offers Graduate Studies in all seven Faculties, plus the independent Graduate School staffed by members of its Institute of Foreign Language Education and Research. The University, with its attached senior and junior high schools and kindergarten, has a total student body of twenty seven thousand. And, in 2006, Kansai University will celebrate the 120th anniversary of its foundation. URL: http://www.kansai-u.ac.jp/nenshi/index.htm

Campus of the past *1 Gustave Ernie Boissonade de Fontarabie (1825-1910) was, from 1873 to 1895, a legal adviser to the Ministry of Justice of the Meiji Government.

2 Kojima Korekata (1837-1908) is best remembered for his efforts to maintain the independence of judicature the judiciary after the Otsu Incident had taken place, in 1891. This was an attempt on the life of the then Crown Prince of Russia (later Tsar Nikolai II) made when he was traveling through Otsu (a small town near Kyoto) by Tsuda Sanzo, one of the policeman ordered to guard his safety. In its consternation, and in hopes of averting retaliation by Russia, the Japanese government wanted the accused tried for treason, convicted, and sentenced to death. In spite, however, of strong pressure from both government and public opinion, Kojima Korekata tried the case as an ordinary crime of attempted murder, and sentenced Tsuda to life imprisonment.

Note: Japanese names are given with family-name first.

from <http://www.kansai-u.ac.jp/English/history.html>