Tokyo University of Foreign Studies has a long history. Its origins are traced to Bansho Shirabesho (Institute for Research of Foreign Documents), established by the Edo shogunate in 1857 It is no exaggeration to say that the history of studies of foreign countries in Japan began with that government-run school, the ancestor of TUFS. It is not easy, however, to clearly affirm when TUFS was founded as a modern educational institution. The reason is that TUFS shares the same roots as several other educational institutions founded in the Meiji era, the dawn of modern education in Japan. They include schools that after many twists and turns branched into today’s University of Tokyo and Hitotsubashi University.