Location and Facilities:
Located in the heart of Tokyo, Sophia University was established in 1913 by three Jesuits ( a German, a Frenchman and an Englishman), to fulfill St. Francis Xavier's 360-year-old dream to establish a Catholic university which would introduce Western culture to Japan, and "to prepare men and women coming from different countries to recognize in the different cultural traditions of the world the fundamental unity of the human race and to work for the concrete achievement of that unity." Sophia University has become one of Japan's most prestigious private universities : it has an international faculty whose mission is to convey to succeeding generations "mankind's cultural and intellectual heritage and a concern for the problems facing the world today." 

Courses taken so far at Sophia University for Holy Cross credit

The Academic Program:
The Faculty of Comparative Culture consists of two departments: The Department of Comparative Culture, which houses all the humanities and social sciences, and the Department of Japanese Language and Studies, which concentrates on Japanese Language, culture, and society. The Faculty of Comparative Culture as well as the student body is international in character, and all courses except language classes are conducted in English. Students also take an intensive Japanese-language course. A minimum 3.50 G.P.A. is required. 

Course Load:
Course load is determined after acceptance and is the equivalent of eight Holy Cross courses. One of the courses is a mandatory Japanese language course.