President Tateishi Interviewed on Doctor Eiji Asada

March 6, 2019

On Friday the 16th of November 2018, Mr. Shojiro Sakou, the principal of Tokuyama Elementary School visited TUFS and interviewed TUFS President Hirotaka Tateishi about the famous Dr. Eiji Asada.

Dr. Asada was a scholar of Christian theology, and was the first recipient of a Ph.D. degree from the University of Chicago. After returning to Japan, Dr. Asada became a chairperson at the emerging Tokyo School of Foreign Languages (now known as the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies), and aside from teaching English was also a key person who supported TUFS from its inception. At this meeting, President Tateishi was interviewed about Dr. Asada’s achievements and way of life, and his “recommendations for children living in a global society”.

On the same day, Yamaguchi Prefecture Eiji Asada researcher Mr. Akira Kawaguchi gifted a draft of the Tokyo School of Foreign Languages rules and regulations (English version), handwritten by Dr. Asada himself, to TUFS. This document shows the founding principles of TUFS, and is very precious to the university, as most of TUFS’ Meiji and Showa era documents were lost over the years in disasters such as the Great Kanda Fire (1913), the Great Kanto Earthquake (1923) and the Northern Tokyo Bombings (1945).

This document will be preserved and displayed in the TUFS Archives.