Niijima's ambition was nothing less than the moral transformation of Japan through Christian education. With support from the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, he opened the Doshisha English School in Kyoto in 1875, choosing the old imperial capital deliberately -- this was the seat of Japanese culture, and he wanted to plant Western learning at its heart. The school's name means "One Purpose Company," reflecting the communal commitment of its founders. Niijima served as president until his death in 1890 at age 46. His successors included Yamamoto Kakuma, a samurai-turned-educator, and Seito Saibara, who became the first Christian elected to the Japanese Diet. By 1920, Doshisha had grown into a full university in the Anglo-American tradition, one of the first private institutions in Japan to achieve that status.

The main Imadegawa campus occupies the former residence of the Satsuma Domain in central Kyoto, positioned next to the Zen temple of Shokoku-ji and directly overlooking the Kyoto Imperial Palace. Five of its buildings have been designated Important Cultural Properties of Japan -- a remarkable distinction for a university campus. Doshisha Chapel, with its red brick facade, and Clark Memorial Hall stand as monuments to Meiji-era Western architecture dropped into one of Japan's most traditional cityscapes. During World War II, the buildings were stripped of their English names and the curriculum was purged of its Western character. Everything was restored after the surrender. Today the campus holds over 2.5 million volumes in its libraries and connects directly to Imadegawa Station on the Kyoto subway, with the 40,000-square-meter Ryoshinkan learning commons opened in 2012.

The Amherst College connection that began with Niijima's education has never been severed. Since 1972, Doshisha has hosted the Associated Kyoto Program, an eight-month study abroad program run in collaboration with a consortium of American liberal arts colleges. The university also houses the Kyoto Consortium for Japanese Studies, an advanced language training program affiliated with American universities. This transatlantic pipeline runs both ways -- approximately 30,000 students now study on Doshisha's four campuses, and the university is among Japan's "Global 30" institutions selected by the government to internationalize Japanese higher education. Its second major campus at Kyotanabe, opened in 1986 as part of Kansai Science City, spreads across 195 acres devoted primarily to science and engineering.

Doshisha's alumni register reads like a cross-section of modern Japanese history. Takako Doi became the first woman to serve as Speaker of Japan's Lower House -- the highest political position any woman had achieved in the country. Abe Isoo was an early pacifist and feminist in the Japanese Diet. Uchida Kosai twice served as acting prime minister. The Korean poet Yun Dong-ju, who died in a Japanese prison during World War II, studied here. And Gunpei Yokoi, the Nintendo engineer who created the Game Boy, walked these same paths in Kyoto. According to a 2011 survey by Toyo Keizai, 533 Doshisha graduates served as executives in publicly listed companies, making it the top-ranked private university in the Kansai region for corporate leadership. The school's rugby team claimed four national championships between 1980 and 1984, while its baseball squad maintains a fierce rivalry with Ritsumeikan University in the Kansai Big Six league.