Tokyo University of Agriculture

The Tokyo University of Agriculture (Tōkyō nōgyō daigaku or Nodai) is a private agricultural university in Japan. It was the first of its kind to be established in Japan and the best of its kind, among others which include Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology and the Sapporo Agricultural College. It began life as the Department of Agriculture of the Ikueiko School in 1891, set up by Enomoto Takeaki, who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Post and Telecommunications, Agriculture, Education. It gained its current name in 1925. The university has three campuses: Setagaya Campus, Atsugi Campus and the Okhotsk Campus (Abashiri). The Setagaya campus includes the faculty of applied bioscience, the faculty of regional environmental science, the faculty of international agriculture and food studies, while the Atsugi Campus in Kanagawa is home to the faculty of agriculture. The Okhotsk Campus, in Hokkaido is home to the faculty of bio-industry. In addition, the university offers two graduate school programmes: one in agriculture and one in bio-industry. There is also a two-year junior college. It is also home to the Tokyo University of Agriculture Botanical Garden on the Atsugi Campus. The garden was established in 1967, and now cultivates about 1,500 species of useful plants, including collections of Cactaceae and other succulents (such as Agave, Euphorbia, Kalanchoe, Stapelia, Sansevieria), Iris, Lilium, Paeonia, Rosa, Syringa, as well as flora of Asia and the Far East, Kazakhstan, Europe, the Americas, and medicinal plants and conifers such as Podocarpus. In addition, 310 species of wild plants grow in the garden.