Faculty of Music

• Someone who is suffused with the motivation to be a musician.
• Someone who is well prepared in the fundamentals of musical performance and would like to undergo training in specialized and high level academic and technical aspects of his/her musical art.
• Someone who would like to broaden their understanding of music, and thinks about the significance of learning music in our modern society.
• Someone with assertiveness, who learns classical music but also creates a new artistic culture suited to a new era, and seeks to spread it throughout society.

• A graduated four year degree completion process is involved, where the instruction consists mainly of one-on-one lessons for students in their area of specialty, with related courses supporting this instruction. We aim to foster a well-balanced student, who is not only technically improved in his/her area of specialization, but leaves the school with a breadth of knowledge as well.
• Our faculty aims to enhance the uniqueness of each individual student by offering courses that serve to heighten broad foundational musical accomplishment, in order to foster a wider perspective in our students so that they can engage with a modern society that requires more and more diversification.
• With Okinawa’s history in mind, we aim to deepen the student’s cooperation with society in order to ensure their role as a platform from which to promote eternal world peace. Students will learn to interact assertively with society and exhibit their talents through artistic activities.

The Ryukyuan Performing Arts Major is the most unique of the fields of study offered by this university, and gives opportunities for students to engage in the performance of the region’s unique traditional music and performance arts. Also, the Performance and Composition Major offers educational opportunities in the Western classical music tradition, which is the basis for all modern music education. Furthermore, the Music Culture studies Major performs research and education that serves to comprehensively sustain the disciplines above in both a theoretical and creative context.

Okinawa Prefectural University of Arts is one of only four public art universities in Japan that can boast a faculty of music. In addition to that, our university is proudly located in an area blessed with the unimpeachable beauty of nature, a place that can be called the heart of Asia.

The number of tourists visiting Okinawa annually is now approaching ten million individuals. Okinawa, one of the leading national resort areas, now has a network of air routes that stretches throughout the country, and thus it is surprisingly easy to travel to and from anywhere in Japan.

Our Faculty of Music building rests at the foot of Shuri Castle, the symbol of this beautiful island, in the historic town of Shuri. One of its unique features is our being the only university to offer a Ryukyuan Performing Arts program, and apart from that, although we are a small university, we take pride in providing a complete Western music education with a full-fledged orchestra.  

Our educational programs with their small numbers of students provide detailed instruction, something which is difficult for large-scale universities. Due to that, the goal set for our students is not only to acquire specialized skills and theory, but also to enhance their human skills through their performances and classes.

We look forward to encountering determined young people eager to study music and the performing arts on this beautiful island.