A Long and Rich Tradition at the Forefront of Women's Education in Japan

On April 1, 2002, Tokyo Jogakkan College (TJKC) was founded as the capstone of the 120 year-old TJK system. This system was conceived in 1886, when a group of leading businessmen and educators met to discuss the modernization of the Japanese nation. Convinced that a key component to this modernization process was the education of Japanese women, they proposed the establishment of the Association for the Promotion of Women's Education (APWE) (Shoreikai). Meeting in the official residence of then Prime Minister Hirobumi Ito in 1887, the group decided to form a committee to prepare for the foundation of APWE and to appoint the Prime Minister as the chairman and Prince Yoshihisa Kitashirakawa as the President. Later in the same year, APWE selected "Tokyo Jogakkan" as the school's name and rented an old manor near the Imperial Palace in Nagatacho, belonging to the Imperial Household as its school building.

On September 11, 1888, Tokyo Jogakkan opened its doors to forty-two high school girls "to provide Japanese women with a high-quality education comparable to that available to Western women." Seven English ladies were invited to start teaching these young women.

In 1890, the school was relocated to the former School of Engineering building in Toranomon and soon earned the nickname "Toranomon Jogakkan." The school moved to its present location in Hiroo after the Toranomon building was destroyed by the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923. After moving to Hiroo, Tokyo Jogakkan grew rapidly. The primary school was established in 1929 and the junior college in 1956. In 1978, the junior college moved to its present location in Minami Machida, a western suburb of Tokyo.

The TJK schools are engaged in educational reform to prepare women for active roles in a world marked by increasing globalization, complexity, competition, and transformation. For this reform to succeed, students must learn to recognize and question the gendered barriers that society has forced upon them, develop the confidence to redefine for themselves what it means to be a woman and citizen in the twenty-first century, and prepare to assume their roles as leaders at a multiplicity of levels in our global community. The four-year college was born out of this reform effort.

WHITE CHRYSANTHEMUM SOCIETY

The Shiragikukai (White Chrysanthemum Society), founded in 1971, is the alumna association for the entire system of Tokyo Jogakkan Schools for Women. An integral member of our community, it is actively supporting TJKC in various ways. More on the Shiragikukai may be found (in Japanese only) at:

http://www.tjk.jp/shiragiku_index.html