The International Christian University has long been committed to Asian Studies. The first president of ICU, Yuasa Hachiro, insisted that ICU should be international, inter-racial, inter-cultural, and co-educationial. He encouraged broad exchange relationships with scholars and students in Asia. Cho Takeda Kiyoko was instrumental in setting up a Committee on Asian Studies in 1958 which in 1971 was re-organized as the Institute of Asian Cultural Studies. She served as Director of the Institute for many years. It was her belief that ICU, located in Japan, could serve as an academic and cultural mediator between West and East. The goal of the Institute has been to facilitate research of Asian societies, including Japan, and to understand their historical development in world perspective.

The Institute of Asian Cultural Studies seeks to:

1. Invite scholars from various countries in Asia, and other parts of the world to conduct research on the historical, religious, economic, political, and other aspects of Asian cultures.
2. Carry out joint research projects with academic groups and institutes which share a common interest in the study of Asia.
3. Collect, organize, and preserve research materials relating to Asia.
4. Plan and hold lectures, seminars, and symposia on Asian topics.
5. Publish the results of research in Asian Cultural Studies and in other publications.

Open Lectures and Symposia on Asia

Since its establishment in 1958, the Institute has sponsored open lectures on topics relating to Asian Studies. The lectures, now numbering over 300, are availalbe in the Institute's Cassette Tape Library. The Institute conducts a series of open lectures on Mondays at lunch time called the Asian Forum.

Each year the Institute sponsors a major symposium on Asian Studies.