A Brief History:     At the suggestion of Nitobe lnazo and Uchimura Kanzo, who were at that time studying in the United States, the Women's Mission Board of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) decided to establish a school for girls in Japan. Friends School was then founded in 1887 with six teachers and three students.

A year later, the school was moved to its present location on Hijirizaka in Mita, Minato-ku. A fire in 1902 and the firebombings of Tokyo in the spring of 1945 destroyed the buildings, but the school was repeatedly rebuilt through the devotion of teachers, students and graduates, and with the help of Japanese and American Quakers.

The only Quaker school in Japan, Friends School is founded on the belief in "that of God in everyone." The school begins each day with meeting for worship and ends each day with the singing of a hymn and a moment of silence. Students study the Bible or world religions at every grade level.

The School Today:     Friends School is now a junior/senior high school for 800 girls. The curriculum emphasizes worship, service, international friendship, and sound academic studies. Most graduates go on to university, in a variety of fields. Many of them choose languages, international relations, the social sciences, and law, while a third of them go into the natural sciences. It is the hope of the school that each graduate will make herself of use in the world while remaining true to the light of God within her.