There are three departments in the University course:
1. Department of Domestic Science.
2. Department of Japanese Literature.
3. Department of English Literature.
In the first department the greater part of the time is devoted to various branches of Applied and Domestic Science; in the second and third departments the largest number of hours is given up to Japanese and English respectively. Ethics, Sociology, Psychology, Education (including Child-Study) and Calisthenics are required studies in all departments; and Drawing, Music, and Science of Teaching, are electives in all cases.
The boarding-department includes seven “Houses,” each with a matron and a head cook. The girls live just as at home, and take turns in cooking.
This school is not, of course, to be compared with foreign universities, or the Imperial University; nor is it a copy of other universities; but it is intended to make this university just suited to the needs of the time and the social conditions of Japanese women. The standard will be gradually elevated. In the system of female education, it is a university, at least in germ.
It is the purpose as soon as possible to increase the number of courses; to add, for instance, pedagogy (including sociology, psychology, etc.), music, science, art, and calisthenics. It is intended also to extend the preparatory course downward, so that it shall include, not a Kōtō Gakkō only as at present, but also a Shō Gakkō (Grammar School) and a kindergarten. Thus the system of female education will be complete in all its grades: from three to six in the kindergarten; six years in the grammar school; five years in the secondary school (Kōtō Jō Gakkō); three years in the university; with a post-graduate course of three years. Then surely the institution will be worthy to be called a university.
Statistics of Christianity in Japan[229]
Under the title, “The Present State of Christianity,” the “Tōkyō Maishū Shinshi” publishes a number of statistics culled from the Rev. D. S. Spencer’s “Tidings from Japan.” Here is the “Maishū Shinshi’s” summary of Mr. Spencer’s report: