Nagasaki Wesleyan University, Isahaya

Nagasaki Wesleyan University is a private university in Isahaya, Nagasaki, Japan. The predecessor of the school was the Cobleigh Seminary School founded in 1881 at Higashi-yamate in Nagasaki, which was founded as a missionary project of the Methodist Church. In 1906 the institution was renamed Chinzei Gakuin, and the institution was chartered as a junior college in 1966. In 2002 it became a four-year college. The vision that Methodist minister Dr. C.S. Long had when he began the Chinzei Academy in Nagasaki and how Methodist clergyman Dr. Chiba endeavored to rebuild the academy in Isahaya city after the academy, only 500 meters from the hypocenter, was destroyed in the bombing of Nagasaki speaks to the rich heritage of the university. The history of Nagasaki Wesleyan University and the Chinzei Academy embodies the human spirit and motivation needed for rebuilding the institute after World War II. The funding of the academy is celebrated each year in November in a festival known as the “Two-Dollar Festival”. This annual event commemorates the $2 pledge by Mollie V. Cobleigh, the widowed wife of Dr. Nelson E. Cobleigh who initiated funding for the institute. This donation of two dollars has been a commemoration honored by celebration as Nagasaki Wesleyan University calls its school festival the “Two-Dollar Festival.” In response to the spirit of Ms. Mollie V. Cobleigh’s two-dollar donation, Nagasaki Wesleyan University is active in promoting volunteer activities for young people to serve others in the community and around the world. ()