Faculty of Letters

Department of Humanities and Social Science

Major Areas of Study

The Faculty of Letters provides an intellectual foundation for a rapidly changing society

The whole concept of universities is being redefined as society changes. Under these circumstances, the importance of learning at the Faculty of Letters, which values the essence of culture created by human interchanges, is increasing. The Faculty of Letters provides a consistent intellectual foundation that does not waver even when buffeted by the winds of passing trends.

Proud of its tradition of more than 100 years, and of its numerous renowned graduates

The history of the Faculty of Letters stretches back more than 110 years and is itself part of the history of Japanese literature. Kafu Nagai and Shusaku Endo number among its graduates, but the list includes many other well known authors and critics such as Mantaro Kubota, Haruo Sato, Kenkichi Yamamoto, Junzaburo Nishiwaki, Shotaro Yasuoka,  Jun Eto, Tomomi Muramatsu, Anna Ogino and Koji Suzuki. Faculty members are active both in Japan and abroad across diverse disciplines, including Philosophy, History, Literature, Library and Information Science, Sociology, Psychology, Education and Human Sciences.

17 major areas of study and a wide variety of specialized courses, to encourage further research

An important characteristic of the Faculty of Letters is that it offers 17 major areas of study. The Faculty encourages students to select courses which interest them, in addition to those required for their major. Furthermore, there is a great diversity of lecturers as well as about 140 dedicated tenured faculty members. Carefully crafted academic programs foster comprehensive thinking with a broad perspective that is always grounded in the student's major subject.