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The Keio University Tonomachi Town Campus was established in April 2016 as part of the Tonomachi King Sky Front, a cutting-edge research facility in Kawasaki, Japan, that uses an open innovation approach to conduct world-class research and invent new industries. Keio's Town Campus system seeks to "open" the concept of its existing campuses and their activities by taking them out into the real world, thereby expanding their scope. To date, this endeavor has led to the founding of the Shin-Kawasaki Town Campus in the city's Saiwai Ward in 2000, and the Tsuruoka Town Campus in Yamagata Prefecture in 2001. Each campus has its own unique features that emerge and develop over time. The Tonomachi Town Campus is located across the Tama River from Haneda Airport, and, in 2022, the Tamagawa Sky Bridge was opened, allowing direct access to the airport side of the river from the Tonomachi King Sky Front. This situates the campus perfectly, not only as a domestic bioresearch hub, but as a base of operations for connections that can span across the globe.

In 2017, the Tonomachi Town Campus also set up its Wellbeing Research Center where those with backgrounds in the School of Medicine, the Faculty of Science and Technology, the Faculty of Pharmacy, the Faculty of Nursing and Medical Care, the Graduate School of System Design and Management, the Graduate School of Health Management, and others from across a range of undergraduate and graduate research backgrounds, can transcend academic boundaries and engage in diverse research activities. Additionally, those at the campus have worked together with officials from Kawasaki City and the Kanagawa prefectural government, as well as with private corporations and institutions located within the Tonomachi King Sky Front, to achieve stellar results. Examples of such collaborations include the Town Campus's work with the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) and its "Program for the Promotion of a World-Class Regional Research and Development/Verification Hub (Research Complex)" (https://www.tonomachi-wb.jp/), Keio Wizard: the Keio Wellbeing Integrated Wizard Training Program (https://www.tonomachi-wb.jp/juniordoctor/), and the Program on Open Innovation Platform with Enterprises, Research Institutes and Academia (OPERA).

As of April 2024, the Tonomachi Town Campus will also house the new Keio Regenerative Medicine Research Center where scientists can work towards achieving the Japanese government's Bio-Strategy 2020 objective of becoming the world's most advanced bioeconomy by the year 2030. To achieve this, it will work together with related corporations and institutions in the industry to form a core research hub for Eastern Japan in the Tonomachi and Haneda area while conducting regenerative medicine and stem cell research.

All our initiatives hinge on the life sciences and regional collaboration and are focused on making developments in regenerative medicine, healthcare, wellbeing, personal and professional growth, the social implementation of ideas, and innovation. Our goal, now and always, is to be a campus involved and connected with the local community that prioritizes excellence in research and education.



Masayuki Amagai
Vice-President, Keio University
Director, Keio University Frontier Research & Education Collaborative Square (K-FRECS at Tonomachi)