President's Message

Haruki Ohnishi, President

Tohoku Gakuin University (TGU), a Christian university located in Sendai, the central city in the Tohoku region of Japan, has a long history stretching back 137 years. Like other prestigious Christian universities, TGU was founded when Japan opened its doors to the world, accepted missionaries from the West, and pursued modernization. Currently, TGU is the largest private university in eastern Japan, consisting of 15 departments in nine faculties, encompassing the Humanities, Social Sciences, Engineering, Informatics, Humanics, and Global Studies, with 11,000 students.

Sendai, which is only 1.5 hours away from Tokyo by bullet train, is a provincial city with a million residents. It is rich in culture and nature, with inexpensive amenities, offering an exceptionally good environment for studying and living. The TGU campus is located in a convenient area: only a 15-minute walk from Sendai Station. The international student dormitory is only a 10-minute walk from the campus. The Aoba Castle ruins, museums, libraries, and other cultural properties, the natural atmosphere of the Hirose River and tree-lined avenues, and downtown areas where a person can enjoy shopping are all within walking distance of the campus or the dormitory.

Led by the International Affairs Office, TGU offers programs of one or two semesters for international exchange students. Through those programs, international exchange students can learn Japanese, attend classes suited to their respective specialties of study, visit local communities and commercial facilities, and participate in exchanges with Japanese students and other international students visiting TGU from our partner institutions worldwide.

Through the TGU exchange programs, all students are expected to acquire language skills, make friends, and understand the life, customs, and ways of thinking of Japanese people, living a fulfilling international student life while experiencing animation, manga, sports, cuisine, hot springs, and other aspects of Japanese culture, all while creating a peaceful new world.