The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, SOKENDAI is one of the national universities of Japan, headquartered in Shonan Village (湘南国際村) in the town of Hayama in Kanagawa Prefecture. Sōkendai (総研大), as it is generally called in its abbreviated form, was established in 1988, with Dr. Saburo Nagakura as its president. SOKENDAI is the first national university in Japan having offered exclusively graduate programs. Graduate students are trained at affiliated research institutes distributed around Japan and the world. It has both five-year doctoral programs for students with a bachelor's degree and three-year programs for those with a master's degree.

Hayama is a town located in Kanagawa Prefecture, on central Honshū, Japan. As of 1 April 2021, the town had an estimated population of 32,961 and a population density of 1900 persons per km2. The total area of the town is 17.06 square kilometres (6.59 sq mi). Since 1894, the Japanese Imperial Family has maintained a residence in Hayama, the seaside Hayama Imperial Villa.