Joseph Hardy Neesima
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Joseph Hardy Neesima (新島 襄, Nījima Jō) (February 12, 1843 - January 23, 1890) is the founder of Doshisha University in Japan.
In 1864, at the age of 21, Neesima illegally left Japan for the United States in order to study Western science and Christianity. He attended Phillips Academy from 1865 to 1867 and then Amherst College from 1867 to 1870. Upon graduating from Amherst, Neesima became the first Japanese to receive a degree from a Western college.
From 1870 to 1874 he studied at the Andover Theological Seminary, was ordained in 1874, and returned to Japan. In 1875 Neesima founded Doshisha University.