History
How did Seisen start?
“Begin?...It didn’t begin! It just happened,” laughed Sister Carmen. “After the war, Air Force families asked us to run a Kindergarten right where we already had one of our missionary schools in a rambling house at Hatsudai, Yoyogi. So, we did. Years later they pleaded, ‘Sisters, couldn’t we have a first grade?!’ ‘All right,’ we said, ‘but no more, that’s all!’ Every fall we say no more, but somehow here we are, all the way to ninth grade!! There is a need, so...”
This excerpt was taken from an article called “Seisen School: Where Spiritual Growth is Emphasized” which appeared in a Tokyo newspaper in 1972.
There was a need. And the school which began as a kindergarten in 1949 with only four American students moved on to Gotanda in 1962 with 70 students and added a first grade. By 1970 the school was up to grade 9 and in 1973, a year after Seisen was moved to the present location in Yoga, the school was finally extended to include Grade 12. Today there is an enrollment of over 600 students with 62 nationalities represented.
The school is located in Tokyo’s largest residential area, Setagaya-ku. It is easily accessible from downtown Tokyo by subway, train, public bus, or school bus.
Seisen is operated by the Handmaids of the Sacred Heart of Jesus under the auspices of the Seisen Jogakuin Educational Foundation. The order was founded in 1877 by Saint Rafaela Maria Porras to dedicate its efforts to educational activities.
Seisen is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, the Council of International Schools, and the Japanese Ministry of Education. Its memberships include the Japan Council of International Schools, the Kanto Plains Association of Secondary School Principals, and the East Asia Council of Overseas Schools.