Best Universities for Humanities & Liberal Arts in Japan 2026

Humanities & Liberal Arts programs

• Liberal Arts College of Arts and Sciences — Japan's only single-college bilingual liberal arts model with flexible major declaration at end of Year 2 across 31 majors
• English Language Program (ELA) — Intensive first-year academic English program mandatory for all students, building university-level bilingual competence
• International Studies — Top-ranked program in Japan for international affairs with strong pipeline to UN, UNHCR, and diplomatic careers
• Politics and International Relations — Highly regarded program producing diplomats and policy professionals with bilingual advantage in East Asian affairs

Humanities & Liberal Arts programs

• School of Political Science and Economics (Seikei) — Japan's premier political science faculty, producing seven Prime Ministers and the majority of senior Diet members. Top-ranked in Japan for political science and public policy. Graduates dominate NHK, Asahi Shimbun, and Japan's major media organizations alongside government ministries.

Humanities & Liberal Arts programs

• BBA International Management (English-track) — AACSB-accredited four-year business degree taught fully in English, with concentrations in international business strategy, marketing, accounting and finance, and innovation and economics. Recruits Japanese multinational rotation programmes at Sony, Panasonic, Hitachi, Rakuten, and the major sogo shosha trading houses.
• BA Asia Pacific Studies (English-track) — Regional studies degree with concentrations in international relations and peace studies, culture, society and media, and global economy. Particularly strong on Southeast Asian regional expertise drawn from APU's roughly 95-nationality student body. Feeds into NGO, development, journalism, and Asia-Pacific policy careers.
• BA Sustainability and Tourism (English-track) — Rebranded and expanded in 2023 from the former Asia Pacific Studies tourism stream, with English-track expansion in 2025. Concentrations in environment and development, resource management, sustainable tourism, and international hospitality. Aligned with Japan's national tourism-growth strategy and Kyushu's onsen-tourism economy.

Humanities & Liberal Arts programs

• Human Sciences International Undergraduate Degree Program (IUDP) — Four-year English-medium undergraduate program launched 2011 under the Global 30 initiative and continued after G30 wound down. Small cohort focused on behavioral sciences, sociology, and global studies.

Humanities & Liberal Arts programs

• BSc Materials Science Engineering (English Track) — English-medium undergraduate track launched in 2024 at the School of Engineering, building on the Institute for Materials Research's century-long lineage. Direct laboratory placement from year three into Kinken research groups working on magnetic materials, semiconductor physics, structural alloys, and sustainable materials. Feeds directly into Toshiba, Renesas, Sony Semiconductor, NIMS, and graduate programs at MIT, Stanford, ETH Zurich, and the Max Planck network.
• BSc Mechanical and Industrial Engineering (FGL English Track) — Future Global Leadership undergraduate program in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering — one of Tohoku's longest-running English-medium tracks. Tight integration with JAXA collaborations, the Tohoku precision-machinery industrial corridor, and the Department of Mechanical Engineering's research in robotics, fluid dynamics, and aerospace propulsion.
• BA Japanese Literature (Imperial Heritage Track) — Japanese-medium undergraduate program at the Faculty of Arts and Letters with one of the strongest Japanese literature departments in the country — a direct inheritance from the Imperial University period. Distinguished modern Japanese literature, classical (kanbun and waka) studies, and folkloric Tohoku-region research drawing on the Yanagita Kunio lineage.

Humanities & Liberal Arts programs

• Faculty of Liberal Arts (FLA) BA — Sophia's flagship entirely English-taught Bachelor of Arts faculty. Majors in International Business and Economics, Comparative Culture, and Social Studies. Full degree completion without Japanese-language requirement. The original English-medium liberal arts faculty in Japan and the structural reason most international undergraduates choose Sophia.
• Faculty of International Relations (Hogakubu / Sogo Globalka) BA — International law, diplomatic history, regional studies, and political economy. Significant English-medium course availability. Primary feeder track to Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Gaimusho), Tokyo-based UN agencies, and foreign embassies in Tokyo. Combines well with one of the eight foreign-language departments for a bilingual diplomatic career profile.
• Faculty of Theology and Department of Philosophy — Rare in secular Japanese higher education. Catholic theology and philosophy operate as full academic disciplines rather than ceremonial offerings, reflecting Sophia's Jesuit pedagogical tradition. Required components for some degree tracks. Direct intellectual lineage to Pontifical Gregorian University (Rome) and the worldwide Jesuit philosophy network.