With the increasing globalization of our modern age, one could say that it is now essential to be able to interact with people from a diverse range of cultures and people with a diverse range of value systems. The general cultural subjects foster in students the cultivation and broad-based knowledge required to be able to do this. The aim is to cultivate in students the stance of looking at issues from a wide range of perspectives in order to nurture the ability to understand other cultures and introduce Japanese culture to the world. The specialist subjects are designed to increase the degree of specialization of students’ study in their particular faculty and department. There are three kinds of subject: Mandatory subjects, mandatory selection subjects, and selectable subjects. Mandatory selection requires students to select certain credits from within a set range of subjects.

Roughly half of the specialized education subjects are “university-wide open subjects”. These subjects transcend the boundaries between all five faculties and 13 departments and are open to all Kokugakuin University students. Students can, based on their independent will and ingenuity, freely design their own courses of study within the range of the credits for which this is allowed. The minor subject system, which allows students to receive, in a more systematic manner, specialized education that falls outside the department to which they belong, provides a maximum of 24 minor program types.