This week has seen ceremonies setting up a new relationship between Goucher College, Baltimore, and Aoyama Gakuin University, Tokyo. An agreement reached for cultural and educational exchange between the two institutions represents, in fact, a rediscovery of an old, essential connection. For Michiko Mitarai, a Tokyo alumna and trustee of Goucher College, this week's celebrations are the culmination of years of work.
"In 1992," she said, "I decided to track down a rumor I'd heard years before about a school John F. Goucher had founded in Tokyo. He established the Baltimore College for Women, now Goucher College, in the late 19th century. I found out that he then donated 90 percent of the funds needed to buy land in Tokyo for Tokyo Eiwa Gakuin, that became Aoyama Gakuin University. 128 years ago, the two schools, though unaware of each other, shared a common origin."
Michiko researched Methodist schools in Tokyo, talked with archivists and trawled through historic documents. Once she was sure of her facts, she arranged an initial meeting of the presidents of the two institutions. An exchange of professors followed. Over several years, a fundraising campaign among Aoyama graduates resulted last year in a 13-story new Goucher Hall at Aoyama. This week Goucher President Sanford J. Ungar and Aoyama Gakuin President Masao Handa signed the general exchange agreement that cements the new relationship. Michiko downplays her own initiative and 10-year role in creating this "International Week at Aoyama." "I consider myself very fortunate to have been able to work on it," she said.