Ochanomizu University is one of only two national women's universities in Japan. The other is Nara Women's University. "Ochanomizu" is the name of the Tokyo neighborhood where the university was founded Ochanomizu University was founded in 1875 as Tokyo Women's Normal School, Japan's first institution of higher education for women, and, as Women's Higher Normal School and Tokyo Women's Higher Normal School, we have had several different incarnations while pioneering education for women.