Faculty of Letters

Faculty introduction

Engaging with works created by previous generations, and cultivating new sensibilities and intelligence

What’s the point of studying literature and the arts? I expect quite a few people wonder about that. However, what does studying actually mean? Does it mean acquiring skills that will be useful in society? It is certainly true that getting a job and making money is necessary in order to survive. However, studying is not just a means to that end. I believe it is also an action that expands in the same way as the very fact of being alive. Living means constantly changing, and studying really is nothing other than an activity to reshape ourselves. The Faculty of Letters is a place where you can seriously engage in such studying. Many works created by previous generations have the power to really shake the way we usually see and think about things. The sensibilities and intelligence cultivated by engaging directly with such works are, therefore, tools for adapting to the diversity of the world, but more than that, they are proof of our own transformation. Together let us engage in studies that extend beyond what is expected of us, and thereby learn how to live rather than merely survive.

Yasuyuki Shinkai, Dean, Faculty of Letters