Nihyaku-nen no Yume wo Mita.

Set against the closing years of the Edo era, this work follows Jo Niijima, who staked his life on a voyage to America in pursuit of liberty. With help from sympathetic people he met overseas, he gained a modern, democratically grounded education at three separate institutions. His time abroad convinced him that Japan could only modernize by cultivating people of independence, freedom, and firm moral conviction, which required a new kind of schooling. Returning home, Niijima devoted himself to bringing an American educational model to Japan and worked toward founding the country's first private university. The goal eluded him during his own lifetime, yet his vision endured, carried forward by the students, graduates, and teachers connected to present-day Doshisha.