Kaifukan

Kaifukan, the main building of the Gakken Toshi Campus, acts as Doshisha’s new research center for science and engineering. The name of the building, ‘kaifu’ (meaning ‘pleasant breeze’) was taken from the Kaifu Maru, the name of a Western-style schooner owned by the Bicchu Matsuyama clan (in present Okayama Prefecture). The young Neesima had a chance to board the Kaifu Maru as a crew member on its voyage between Edo (now Tokyo) and Tamashima (now Kurashiki, in Okayama Prefecture). Looking back years later, Neesima said that the voyage had given him valuable experience and knowledge and helped to expand his horizons. Neesima boarded the Kaifu Maru again to Hakodate Port when he left Japan for America in 1864 on a journey in search of new values and ideas which he would later introduce to his homeland.
As such, Kaifukan exists as a research hub to help Doshisha University continue on its voyage of discovery and quest for betterment.