OpenFieldUniversity of the Sacred Heart (Seishin Joshi Daigaku) is a historic, prestigious Catholic women’s university located in Hiroo, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, celebrated for humanities, international studies, and global social justice.
Established in 1916 by the Society of the Sacred Heart (founded in France in 1800) and chartered in 1948 as one of Japan’s first women’s universities under the modern system, Sacred Heart Tokyo educated Empress Emerita Michiko and is renowned for its Faculty of Modern Liberal Arts, Sacred Heart Institute for Sustainable Futures (SHISF), and multilingual education.
Undergraduate admissions for women evaluate secondary school graduation via general examinations, comprehensive selection (Sogo-gata), or international student admissions (JLPT N1/N2 or EJU). Graduate schools are coeducational for master’s and doctoral degrees, requiring research proposals and foreign language exams.
Four-year modern liberal arts curriculum exploring international relations, multicultural symbiosis, sustainable development goals (SDGs), and global diplomacy in Tokyo.
Rigorous psychological curriculum covering cognitive developmental stages, clinical counseling psychology, psychometrics, and neuro-development in children.
Coeducational two-year research degree examining Anglo-American literature, feminist literary criticism, sociolinguistics, and second language acquisition pedagogy.
Fellowship conducted at the Sacred Heart Institute for Sustainable Futures (SHISF), investigating climate change adaptation in Asia and fair-trade community economics.
Special commemorative merit scholarship supporting international students who foster cross-cultural dialogue and women's educational leadership.
Prestigious academic practicum placed with UN agencies, international refugee support organizations, and UNESCO partner institutions in Tokyo.
Professor of International Relations and Peace Studies · Department of International Studies
Prof. Dr. Junko Takahashi explores human security paradigms, refugee protection frameworks, and gender equity in post-conflict reconstruction across Southeast Asia.
View research profile ↗Professor of American Literature and Gender Studies · Department of English Language and Literature
Prof. Dr. Naoko Sugiyama investigates representations of motherhood, race, and gender in modern American literature, authoring celebrated monographs on literary feminism.
View research profile ↗Associate Professor of Environmental Geography and Sustainability · Institute for Sustainable Futures
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kenichi Tanaka studies community-based disaster resilience, urban green corridors, and experiential environmental pedagogy in Japanese metropolitan areas.
View research profile ↗University profile compiled from official University of the Sacred Heart, Tokyo academic bulletins and institutional directories reviewed on 2026-10-16. OpenField is an independent research guide.