In a classroom near Sendai's main train station, about 40 students from nine universities in Miyagi Prefecture learn every Saturday what they can't learn in their classrooms or lecture halls.
Fukkou University, launched in May, offers a one-year program aimed at developing young leaders to help rebuild from last year's massive quake and tsunami.
"The Miyagi governor says it will take us at least 10 years to fully recover from the disasters, so we definitely need leaders on this long, tough road," says Yasuji Sawada, president of Tohoku Institute of Technology and a key advocate of the new curriculum.