To hold this ceremony celebrating the 150th anniversary of the foundation of Keio University in the presence of Their Majesties the Emperor and Empress, and our many distinguished guests from Japan and overseas, is a great honour for Keio University, and for me personally.
One hundred and fifty years ago, just after Commodore Perry’s black ships appeared in Uraga, and while Japan wavered between exclusionism and the opening of the country, 23-year-old Yukichi Fukuzawa started a small school of Dutch learning. That was during the turbulent period at end of the Tokugawa Shogunate, ten years before the Meiji Restoration of 1868. Since then, that school, Keio Gijuku, has turned its focus to Western learning, has overcome many difficulties with an indomitable spirit of independence, and has led the transformation of Japan from a feudal state to a modern nation.
During this time, Keio University has faced crises that threatened its very existence, including a period of financial turmoil and damage to the campus during the Second World War, but it succeeded in surmounting these difficulties to forge a 150-year history as a modern comprehensive university that has few parallels in Japan, or in the whole of Asia. We attribute this success to the efforts of so many people, in particular to the Keio Gijuku Shachu (students, faculty members, alumni, parents, and other supporters of Keio) who foster an enduring legacy of pride, loyalty, and commitment to this university.
Keio University currently has 10 faculties, 14 graduate schools, eight affiliated schools including the Keio Academy of New York high school, diverse research institutes and research centres, satellite campuses, a university hospital, and other facilities. We have more than 50,000 students, including correspondence students, in elementary school through to graduate studies; about 4,500 fulltime teaching staff; and 310,000 alumni. Since 1890, when we established university departments thanks to the efforts of then-President of Harvard University Charles Eliot, Keio has forged close links with the world’s foremost universities, and achieved a fi rm status as a world-class university with great infl uence, not only in this country, but in the increasingly global and multipolar international community.
Keio University can look back on many important milestones during the 150 years since its foundation in 1858. It faced and overcame the inflation following the Satsuma Rebellion in its 20th year, created a new academic role for itself in the 20th century in its 50th year, and established the Hiyoshi Campus in its 75th year. It prevailed in the aftermath of the Second World War in its 90th year, experienced the period of post-war recovery around its 100th year, and saw the end of the post-war period in its 125th year. In recent years, we have reorganized or created courses, departments, and majors, and established various new campuses, faculties, and graduate schools. These include the Shonan Fujisawa Campus, Faculty of Policy Management, Faculty of Environment and Information Studies, and Faculty of Nursing and Medical Care; the Shiba-Kyoritsu Campus, Faculty of Pharmacy, and Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences through a merger with Kyoritsu University of Pharmacy; and the Graduate School of Media and Governance, Graduate School of Health Management, Keio Law School, Graduate School of System Design and Management, and Graduate School of Media Design. We have opened the Keio Shonan Fujisawa Junior and Senior High School, the Keio Academy of New York high school, satellite campuses in, for instance,Tokyo Marunouchi, Kawasaki, Tsuruoka, and Osaka, as well as various advanced research institutes and centres in Japan and abroad. By setting up bases and research centres overseas, we have strengthened our links with leading institutions outside Japan. In addition, we have established the Keio University Media Centers, Organization for Research Advancement and Administration,Organization for Global Initiatives, and Research Institute for Digital Media and Content, as well as strengthened our ultrahigh-speed information network. Those whose efforts have contributed to our development are too numerous to mention, but thanks to them Keio University has stayed at the forefront of global development in many fields encompassing education, research, medicine, social contribution, and international collaboration. I would like to express my deep gratitude to all those who have contributed to the development of Keio University.
One hundred and fifty years after the instability preceding the Meiji Restoration, and sixty years after the end of the Second World War, global uncertainty is again increasing in politics, economics, society, education, and many other spheres. In today’s world, global issues, including growing political confusion; chaos in financial markets; environmental and resource crises such as global warming and water, food, and energy shortages; infectious diseases and other public health issues; uncertain security of living standards; and huge regional disparities due to poverty and war, are all combining to create ever more complex problems. This is giving rise to an age of upheaval similar to that faced by Keio founder Yukichi Fukuzawa, but on a global scale.
What kind of people can overcome the problems of this volatile age and put into practice ideas and actions that can bring stability and prosperity back to the world? I believe that this can only be achieved by those who are able to live independently, thinking for themselves and acting responsibly
wherever they are in the world. At the same time, they must have within themselves a strong spirit of collaboration, the ability to empathize with the pain of others, and to build new collaborative relationships, transcending thoughts of advantage and disadvantage. In other words, they must be people with the spirit of independence and self-respect that permeates Keio University.
Having led, over 150 years, the formation of modern civil society based on the independence of the individual, Keio University must not only make an ongoing contribution to the development of education, research, and medicine, but also must confront head-on all our contemporary problems in their deepening complexity, and lead society to a bright future. With this aim in mind, and with the key theme “Design the Future,” Keio University has been putting its 150th Anniversary Commemorative Project into action since 2005, based on a 10-year plan to transform itself into an open university for the global era.
On this 150th anniversary of its foundation, Keio University will renew its commitment to the founding spirit of Yukichi Fukuzawa, and, taking this as a new starting point, with the pride befi tting this historic private university, pour all its energy into contributing to the future of Japan and the world. For my part, I am fully prepared to make every effort needed to achieve this goal. In closing, I would like to wish all of you every happiness and prosperity, and request your continuing cooperation and support.
