Kanagawa Institute of Technology

Kanagawa Institute of Technology (KAIT) is a private university in Atsugi, Japan. It is home to approximately 5,000 students.

The institution began life as a vocational school in 1963, before achieving university status in 1975. The school’s founder was Kenkichi Nakabe, then president of Taiyo Fishery, which was one of the largest seafood companies in Japan.

There are five faculties at the university: engineering, creative engineering, information technology, applied bioscience and nursing. Graduate programmes are offered in engineering.

Some of KAIT’s research activities include the development of robots that assist disabled people and the elderly, advanced solar energy and the use of smart technology to manage energy use in homes.

One of the most impressive buildings on KAIT’s campus is its workshop building. This is an open plan, glass, 2,000-square-metre structure supported by 305 white columns that are all a unique size and shape. The columns are designed to resemble trees in a forest, echoing the actual cherry blossom trees that surround the building.

Other facilities on campus include an athletics track, tennis court, baseball park and gymnasium.

Atsugi has a population of just over 200,000. It is about an hour away from both Tokyo and Yokohama by train. Parts of the city are inside the hilly Tanzawa-Ōyama Quasi-National Park. This includes Mount Ōyama, which is a regarded by some as an object of worship. Those ascending to the top of the 1,200-metre-tall-peak, most likely by cable car, will find the highest point of the Ōyama-Afuri shrine. Local farmers have historically prayed at the shrine for rain.