Notes from the President's Office No. 5 "What is the Jukukan-kyoku (Keio Corporate Administration)?"

February 7, 2022

Hitoshi Takano, Secretary General

Hello everyone.

My name is Hitoshi Takano, and I am in charge of this installment of "Notes from the President's Office."

Many of you may be thinking, "Huh? I was looking forward to this because President Kohei Ito has always written it. Who is this person?" So, I would like to briefly explain how I came to be writing this article.

At Keio University, the President and ten Vice-Presidents execute the regular duties of the school corporation. In addition to these 11 members, I, in my capacity as Secretary General, attend the Executive Board meetings. Recently, a proposal was made that members other than the President should also contribute to "Notes from the President's Office," and for some reason, I was nominated to be the first one. That is how this came about.

I imagine that the job title of Secretary General is unfamiliar to most of you. I also find it difficult when introducing myself at various meetings. Since a detailed explanation would take too much time, I usually introduce myself by saying, "Please think of the Secretary General as the equivalent of a director of administration at other universities."

Since this is a good opportunity, I would like to explain a little about the "Jukukan-kyoku (Keio Corporate Administration)." The term "Jukukan-kyoku (Keio Corporate Administration)" currently has two meanings. One is the name of a building. The three-story building located between the library and the Old University Library on the Mita Campus is called the "Jukukan-kyoku (Keio Corporate Administration)" ( see campus map, building no. 12 ). According to the "Encyclopedia of Keio University History" (hereafter referred to as the Encyclopedia of Juku History), it is a Gothic-style building completed in September 1926, and was used as both classrooms and offices for a period from the middle of the war to the postwar era.

The main entrance of the Jukukan-kyoku (Keio Corporate Administration) faces the East Gate. When it was completed, the East Gate was the main gate, so it was the building you saw directly in front of you upon entering. Today, it is used as a building that houses the offices of the President and Vice-Presidents, as well as several administrative departments and meeting rooms. When you enter the first floor, you can see remnants of the old office windows. Currently, we have an open counter inside the office to handle various matters, but back then, administrative tasks were handled through small windows.

You can see what it was like from the photo above.

There is a small counter where the letters "AED" are. The bottom of this long, vertical window would open, and that is where documents were exchanged.

When I joined Keio University as a staff member, there was graffiti carved into a part of the portrait of Yukichi Fukuzawa displayed in a meeting room of the Jukukan-kyoku (Keio Corporate Administration). It was faint enough that you wouldn't notice it unless you looked closely, but it was unmistakably graffiti. A senior staff member explained to me that it was written by students who occupied the Jukukan-kyoku (Keio Corporate Administration) during the campus disputes of the late 1960s. As you can see in the next photo, it has now been restored and the traces are gone, but the building now known as the Jukukan-kyoku (Keio Corporate Administration) is one that experienced the turbulent history of Keio University during the Showa era, including war and campus disputes. And as time has moved from the Showa to the Heisei and Reiwa eras, it continues to watch over the history of Keio University.

Now, the other meaning of "Jukukan-kyoku (Keio Corporate Administration)" is the name of an administrative organization. To quote from the Encyclopedia of Juku History, "Initially after the move to Mita... (omission) ...it was merely 'one of several departments handling the Juku's administrative affairs,' but as time went on, the name Jukukan-kyoku came to be used to mean the overall administrative structure, and so it remains to this day."

I think you can now understand why I introduced it earlier as being equivalent to the director of administration at other universities.

I have used up a lot of space just introducing the "Jukukan-kyoku (Keio Corporate Administration)," but I would be happy if you could sense the history behind this name, and I myself have grown fond of the name "Jukukan-kyoku (Keio Corporate Administration)."

The "Keio University Jukukan-kyoku (Keio Corporate Administration) Organizational Regulations" stipulate that the Secretary General "shall oversee the general administrative affairs of the Juku under the direction of the President." In past and future installments of "Notes from the President's Office," I believe the President and the Vice-Presidents will discuss various policies of the Juku.

My job is to oversee the administrative work involved in implementing these policies.

A professor once referred to the Secretary General as the "chief steward of Keio University." From a modern perspective, it may sound a bit old-fashioned, but at the time, I felt it was an apt expression.

I don't know if I am a chief steward today, but I would be grateful if you would remember that behind the content of these "Notes from the President's Office" lies an organization called the "Jukukan-kyoku (Keio Corporate Administration)."