Summer Session Program is an intensive summer course program now offered at various universities in Japan. Sophia University has offered this program since 1961. The program enables foreign students to gain cross-cultural experience by providing lectures on Japanese culture, Japanese society, and East Asian economics. The following is the history and charm of this long-established summer session program in Japan.
1.Beginning of the Summer Session
In 1960,when Japanese universities generally offered year-round or semester-long courses, Father John Blewett (1922-2003), Director of the office of International Affairs at that time, recognized the growing interest in Japanese culture among Westerners and launched the Summer Session, an intensive program offered by many Western universities during the summer vacation. He proposed that Sophia University should also offer the Summer Session, and this proposal became a reality. The program was supported by the faculty of the International Division. The International Division was established in 1949, attended by many American military personnel living in Japan as well as children of expatriates from Western countries, conducting classes entirely in English. As a department that allowed students to obtain an American degree while living in Japan, the department had a track record of educating approximately 10,000 students in English over a 10-year period. We were able to put together this program because many of our faculty members were highly experienced in providing English-language education. Sophia University also had a prewar tradition of contributing to East-West cultural exchange such as publishing Monumenta Nipponica, a magazine that introduced research on East Asian and Japanese culture.
The first summer session, held in 1961, was a program designed for university and high school teachers involved in Japanese and Asian studies in the United States. The program included lectures on Japanese language, Japanese culture, and Southeast Asian social studies during the first five weeks, and after the examination of each subject, students could participate in a one- or two-week domestic or Asian tour (Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, etc.) as an optional activity offered by a travel agency, depending on their interests. At a time when Japanese culture or Southeast Asian social and economic aspects had not been fully introduced to Western society, this program offered the opportunity to foster human resources with a broad perspective, thus appealing in this respect.
2.With the Changes of Times
Later, the curriculum was adapted to meet the needs of each era through the efforts of Father Maurice Bairy (1916-2008), who was instrumental to the operation and development of the Summer Session. For example, from the 1965s onward, when Japan’s “corporate structure” and “lifetime employment system” drew attention outside of Japan, related subjects were incorporated into the curriculum, and factory tours of electrical appliance manufacturers or visits to financial firms were also included as part of the program in order to observe Japan’s unique features and fascinating technologies. Also, very popular among the students were those programs to experience traditional Japanese culture such as flower arrangement and tea ceremony held in a classroom of the university, or to appreciate Noh and Kabuki with lectures on the fundamentals of these arts. The students were intrigued by the world of “wabi” and “sabi” as well as the performing arts they encountered for the first time.
Subsequently, Japan Airlines Corporation (JAL) sponsored a scholarship for Asian students to attend the Summer Session, starting in 1975. Thanks to this initiative the number of students from Southeast Asia gradually increased in addition to the vast majority of students from the U.S. and Canada to date. Professor Richard Gardner, who supervised the summer session after Father Bairy, noted, “The exchange between international students and Sophia University students is becoming more and more widespread. The Summer Session is becoming an increasingly vital course as the number of incoming international students increases,” highly evaluated the significance of the Summer Session.
3.Summer Session in the 21st Century
In 2009, Sophia University was nominated, taking a part in the “Global 30” projects by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) to establish bases of internationalization. Aiming toward globalization, the Summer Session is considered a good platform for both Japanese and international students to learn, discuss, and think together regarding the role of Japan as a member of the East Asian region, while offering a good chance for international students to grasp thoughts and ideas of Japanese students.
In 2013, January Session was launched to offer intensive courses during January, the second major break period in the academic year of universities outside of Japan, next to the summer. We have also launched a graduate-level program, the Sophia Winter Session for Basic Inter-disciplinary Environmental Studies. With the launch of the new session, the program has been renamed the Sophia Short-term Program and continues to evolve.
The Summer Session celebrates its 60th year in 2021, and the total number of participants to date is over 14,000. Some of the students have gone on to work in Japan or pursue careers related to Japan. We believe that the Summer Session is fulfilling its original purpose of fostering the East-West cultural exchange and global perspective by having students from overseas learn about Japan and Japanese culture.