A private institution and one of two universities in the Yokohama district of Kanazawa-ku, Kanto Gakuin University can trace its roots to American Baptist missionary Albert Bennett of the Baptist Theological Seminary of Yokohama in 1884.
It attained university status in 1949 and continues to emphasise the philosophy of "be a man and serve the world". This motto is associated in particular with Tasuku Sakata, founder of the Junior High School in 1919, another of the university's predecessor institutions The university also promotes character building based upon Christian values.
As well as a main seaside home described as the sea-breeze campus at Kanazawa-Hakki, it has had a humanities section at Kanazawa-Bunko, site of one of Japan’s great medieval centres of learning, since 1986. The graduate college of law operates from Odawara. A new campus at Kannai, in the central Yokohama district and is already the location of the university's media school, is planned to open as a base for law, business administration and human symbiosis in 2022.
It enrolled close to 11,000 students in 2018, around two thirds of them men, with economics (2,245) and science and engineering (1,895) the largest of the 10 faculties. Locally-based initiatives have included the creation of a cookbook containing 100 local fish recipes and the "Happy Walls" project to renovate derelict houses.
Notable academics include Naotaka Kamizawa, frequently quoted in the national and international press as an authority on the Japanese imperial family. The rugby team has won five national college championships.
