About Us
Greetings from Chief Executive Director, Chair of the Board
Chuo Vision 2025”: The Beacon for Chuo University’s Future
It is often said that the mission of academia is to implement education, research, and social contribution. Looking back, I believe that Chuo University has set the development of humanity as our greatest mission, while educating, researching, and contributing to society.
Dating back 140 years, the Igirisu Horitsu Gakko (English Law School) was founded in the Kanda district of central Tokyo with an aim to establish a modern legal system in Japan which was needed to revise the unequal treaties concluded with western countries in Edo Era. This predecessor has become the Chuo University of today through its glorious history and tradition of practical learning. Chuo University has a strong record of success in preparing students for competitive national qualification examinations, especially in the Japanese legal field. Chuo graduates have made up a large percentage of the legal profession in Japan. We are very proud of this fact, however, the number of students and graduates who have passed the qualification examinations for lawyers, certified public accountants, etc., is not the only unique feature of Chuo University.
Rokuichiro Masujima, one of the founders of Chuo University, studied at Middle Temple and qualified as a barrister in England in the early Meiji Era (1868-1912), and soon after returning to Japan, he purchased the Kanda Nishikicho site with a building from Mitsubishi and founded the Igirisu Horitsu Gakko. After retiring as its first president, he had a long career as a global lawyer with practicing law internationally, opening his own offices in Tokyo and abroad while actively interacting with the American bar associations. Many of Chuo’s current faculty members are also “a global person” who are active internationally. On a personal note, my efforts to assist the drafting of the Civil Procedure Code of Cambodia, as part of the Committee for Assistance in Establishing a Modern Legal System for Cambodia by the Japanese Ministry of Justice and JICA, are based on my desire to make international social contributions. Having witnessed the many people who have lost their legs to landmines begging in Phnom Penh’s central market, I have hoped that one day, my work would contribute, however modestly, to the country’s development and happiness. I hope that students at Chuo University will have a broad perspective and set an international goal. We offer a variety of global programs that support those initiatives.
A great number of Chuo University graduates have become prominent in various professional fields, including public speaking, global business leadership, political leadership, government service at both national and local levels, elite sports, and the arts and culture. As evidenced by our distinguished alumni and their outstanding contributions across these essential fields, Chuo University is a comprehensive university capable of fostering individuals who form the foundation of society.
Chuo University is currently advancing our decade-long strategic plan, “Chuo Vision 2025.” We have already realized many of its major goals, including the establishment of the Faculty of Global Management and the Faculty of Global Informatics, opening of the Global Gateway Chuo – an international exchange hub in the Tama campus, the International Residence Chuo, the relocation of the Faculty of Law to the new Myogadani downtown campus, and consolidation of Professional Graduate Schools to the new Surugadai downtown campus. Furthermore, we have opened the New Building 1 on the Korakuen campus at the end of the academic year of 2024. As for the academic year 2025, the final year of the plan, we are expecting the reorganization of the Faculty of Science and Engineering, the establishment of new faculties (currently in the planning phase), the promotion of globalization, the exploration of a comprehensive university future, and the facilitation of sports. Having overcome the COVID-19 pandemic, Chuo University is set to enhance our attractiveness and competitiveness. Working together with faculty members, staff, and alumni, we are committed to making Chuo a university with a global presence and steadily achieving “Chuo Vision 2025.”
June 30th, 2025
Masahiko Omura
Chief Executive Director, Chair of the Board, Chuo University
Profile
Masahiko Omura was born in Hyogo Prefecture in 1954. He graduated from the Chuo University Law Faculty in 1977.
He completed a master’s course at the graduate school and became an Assistant Professor at Chuo University's Faculty of Law in 1979. In 1990, he became a professor of the same faculty, and in 2004, he took the positions of Dean and professor (JD course) at the Chuo Law School. He is a Doctor of Law (Chuo Law Faculty) and a specialist in the law of civil procedure.
He became Director of the Chuo University International Center in 2012, Executive Director of the Board of Directors of Chuo in 2014, and Chair of the Board in 2017, reappointed in 2020. In 2021, he became a professor emeritus at Chuo University. In addition, he has conducted overseas research at the University of Texas, Cambridge University, the University of California San Francisco Law School, and other institutions. In 1998 he became a member of the Committee for Assistance in Establishing a Legal System for Cambodia (JICA), and in 2002 he became a member of the Committee for Inspection of Private Education Institutions of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). In 2003, he was appointed as an expert on the MEXT Subcommittee for the Establishment of Universities, Council for the Establishment of Universities and School Corporations. He became Chair of the Accreditation Committee for Law Schools, Japan University Accreditation Association in 2013, and in 2015 he became Vice President (now Honorary Vice-President) of the International Association of Procedural Law. In 2016, he became a member of the MEXT Investigative Commission for the Promotion of Private Universities, and now the Chairperson of the Comission.
