Otsuma Women's University

Otsuma Women's University (Ōtsuma-joshi-daigaku) is a private university in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1949, it is located in Sanbanchō, near the Imperial Palace in the Chiyoda City. It began as a sewing school opened by Otsuma Kotaka (1884–1970) in 1908. From this grew the Otsuma Girls' High School (1935) and the Otsuma Women's Vocational School (1942). Otsuma Kotaka was a pioneer of traditional women's education, emphasizing scientific training in homemaking skills. For almost twenty years the university specialized in home economics and became synonymous with the education of 'good wives and wise mothers' (ryōsai-kenbo). An adjacent two-year junior college was established in 1950. In 1967 the university expanded with establishment of a Faculty of Language and Literature and construction of a second campus in Sayamadai, Saitama. Two hitherto independent girls' middle and high schools (Otsuma Nakano and Otsuma Ranzan) were also affiliated. In 1990 a third campus and a fourth affiliated high school were opened in Tama, Tokyo. Like many other women's universities in Japan, Otsuma has faced the challenge of a rapidly changing job market for women. In the 70s and 80s the demand was for junior college graduates and for most of this period the Otsuma Junior College English Department was at the top of the national rankings. The subsequent shift to a demand for four-year g

School data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).