Tohoku Gakuin University

is a private university in Sendai, Japan. It was founded under a Christian background (specifically the German Reformed Church, which later was known as the Reformed Church in the United States. A large part of the Reformed Church in the United States subsequently merged into what is today known as the United Church of Christ in the United States). Times Higher Education places Tohoku Gakuin University in the 150+ bracket in its ranking of Japan's 200 best universities. History The university was founded in 1886 (Meiji 19) as Sendai Theological Seminary by Oshikawa Masayoshi(1850–1928), one of Japan's first Protestants, and Protestant missionary William Edwin Hoy. Oshikawa, an ex-samurai in Matsuyama became the seminary's first president. In 1891, the school was renamed and a course for non-Christian students was added.