Japan ICU Foundation

In the autumn of 1945, months after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, plans were put in motion in Japan and the United States for the establishment of a new university in Japan. Through dedicated efforts on both sides of the Pacific Ocean, International Christian University (ICU) and the Japan ICU Foundation (JICUF) were incorporated in 1949. ICU was established as an international liberal arts institution committed to peacebuilding and human rights. JICUF’s purpose was to raise support for ICU in the United States. This chapter explores the partnership between ICU and JICUF. It begins with a sketch of the history, key people, and accomplishments of the partnership before exploring how the relationship has been revitalized in recent years within a rapidly evolving international landscape. Examples of programs such as the Japan–Ukraine Pathways Program, Rethinking Peace Studies, Global Link, the Syrian Scholars Initiative, and the JICUF Grants program are presented. The chapter concludes with ideas for the future of the partnership and advice for educators and policy makers.

On Christmas Eve in 1909, 21-year-old Kagawa Toyohiko (1888–1960) rented a room in Kobe’s worst slum and, aside from two years of study in the United States, remained there with his wife and co-worker Haru more than ten years. In the slum, they engaged in pastoral work, evangelism, social reform movements, and literary activities. After publishing a best-selling novel in 1920 and donating all of the royalties to their many projects, Toyohiko began to draw the attention of people from around Japan and the world. He was often compared with his contemporaries Mahatma Gandhi and Albert Schweitzer. Arguing that spiritual reform must accompany genuine social reform, he proposed the “third way” of cooperative economics as an alternative to the materialism he perceived in capitalism and Marxism. The Kagawas founded Kobe Co-op in 1920, which today has 1.2 million members. To support the spiritual life and social commitment of young Christians, they started the “Friends of Jesus” in 1921, a lay Protestant order linking Franciscan and Jesuit traditions. They helped lead relief efforts in Tokyo after the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923 and Toyohiko led the Kingdom of God Movement from 1926–34, a massive ecumenical effort that fused evangelism with social activism. Toyohiko was a lifelong reader of natural science and saw no conflict between science and faith. His lifelong passivism was sorely tested as Japan headed into world war. By 1940, he had responsibility for 4 settlement houses, 6 cooperatives, 6 slum kitchens, 3 hospitals, 17 kindergartens, 3 tuberculosis sanitaria, 3 gospel schools, 1 domestic science school, 2 magazines, a farm, and 19 churches. Publishing over 300 books in his lifetime, he was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature twice, and the Nobel Peace Prize three times. This piece considers why Kagawa and his enduring legacy have been forgotten.