Hitotsubashi University is a national university and the only university in Japan to specialise exclusively in the humanities and social sciences. The university was established in 1875 as a private entity called the Institute for Business Training. It educated the businessmen who went on to become the driving force behind the modernisation of Japanese society after the collapse of the feudal Tokugawa Shogunate. Ever since, Hitotsubashi has been at the forefront of Japan’s economic and social progress. It has become the country’s premier institution for education and research in the social sciences but has always maintained its emphasis on practical learning.