University of Tokyo

The University of Tokyo (informally Tokyo University) (東京大学, Tōkyō daigaku^?), abbreviated as Todai (東大, Tōdai^?),^[3] is a major research university located in Tokyo, Japan. The University has 10 faculties with a total of around 30,000 students, 2,100 of whom are foreign. Its five campuses are in Hongō, Komaba, Kashiwa, Shirokane and Nakano. It is considered to be the most prestigious university in Japan.^[4][5] It ranks as the highest in Asia and 21st in the world in 2011 according to Academic Ranking of World Universities.

History

The university was chartered by the Meiji government in 1877 under its current name by amalgamating older government schools for medicine and Western learning. It was renamed "the Imperial University (帝國大學, Teikoku daigaku^?)" in 1886, and then Tokyo Imperial University (東京帝國大學, Tōkyō teikoku daigaku^?) in 1897 when the Imperial University system was created. In September 1923, an earthquake and the following fires destroyed about 700,000 volumes of the Imperial University Library.^[6] The books lost included the Hoshino Library (星野文庫, Hoshino bunko^?), a collection of about 10,000 books.^[7][8] The books were the former possessions of Hoshino Hisashi before becoming part of the library of the university and were mainly about Chinese philosophy and history.

In 1947, after Japan's defeat in World War II, it re-assumed its original name. With the start of the new university system in 1949, Todai swallowed up the former First Higher School (today's Komaba campus) and the former Tokyo Higher School, which henceforth assumed the duty of teaching first and second-year undergraduates, while the faculties on Hongo main campus took care of third and fourth-year students.

Although the university was founded during the Meiji period, it has earlier roots in the Astronomy Agency (天文方; 1684), Shoheizaka Study Office (昌平坂学問所; 1797), and the Western Books Translation Agency (蕃書和解御用; 1811).^[9] These institutions were government offices established by the 徳川幕府 Tokugawa shogunate (1603–1867), and played an important role in the importation and translation of books from Europe.

Kikuchi Dairoku, an important figure in Japanese education, served as president of Tokyo Imperial University.

For the 1964 Summer Olympics, the university hosted the running portion of the modern pentathlon event.^[10]

Organization

Faculties

^[11]

• Law
• Medicine
• Engineering
• Letters
• Science
• Agriculture
• Economics
• Arts and Sciences
• Education
• Pharmaceutical Sciences

Graduate schools

^[11]

• Humanities and Sociology
• Education
• Law and Politics
• Economics
• Arts and Sciences
• Science
• Engineering
• Agricultural and Life Sciences
• Medicine
• Pharmaceutical Sciences
• Mathematical Sciences
• Frontier Sciences
• Information Science and Technology
• Interdisciplinary Information Studies
• Public Policy

Research institutes

^[11]

• Institute of Medical Science
• Earthquake Research Institute
• Institute of Oriental Culture
• Institute of Social Science
• Institute of Industrial Science
• Historiographical Institute
• Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences
• Institute for Cosmic Ray Research
• Institute for Solid State Physics
• Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute
• Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology

The University's School of Science and the Earthquake Research Institute are both represented on the national Coordinating Committee for Earthquake Prediction.^[12]

Ranking

• Academic Ranking of World Universities ranked the University of Tokyo 21st in the world and 1st in Asia in 2011.^[13]
• Times Higher Education World University Rankings ranked the University of Tokyo 26th in the world in 2010.^[14]
• QS World University Rankings^[15] in 2011 ranked the University of Tokyo 25th in the world (in 2010 Times Higher Education World University Rankings and QS World University Rankings parted ways to produce separate rankings). In the 2011 QS Asian University Rankings, which employs a different methodology, Tokyo University came 4th.^[16]
• Global University Ranking ranked the University of Tokyo 3rd in the world and 1st in Asia.^[17]
• Human Resources & Labor Review, a human competitiveness index & analysis published in Chasecareer Network, ranked the university 21st internationally and 1st in Asia in 2010.^[18]
• École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris ranked the University of Tokyo 1st in the world on the basis of the number of alumni listed among CEOs in the 500 largest worldwide companies.^[19]
• Nature Publishing Index (2010) ranked the University of Tokyo 6th in the world in 2010.^[20]

Notable alumni and faculty members

• University of Tokyo has produced many notable people. Fifteen prime ministers in Japan have studied at University of Tokyo.^[21] Former prime minister Kiichi Miyazawa ordered Japanese government agencies to reduce the rate of employees who had attended the university's law faculty to below 50 percent due to concerns about diversity in the bureaucracy.^[22]
• Seven alumni of University of Tokyo have received the Nobel Prize.

1. Yasunari Kawabata, Literature, 1968
2. Leo Esaki, Physics, 1973
3. Eisaku Satō, Peace, 1974
4. Kenzaburō Ōe, Literature, 1994
5. Masatoshi Koshiba, Physics, 2002
6. Yoichiro Nambu, Physics, 2008
7. Ei-ichi Negishi, Chemistry, 2010

Campus

Hongo Campus

The main Hongo campus occupies the former estate of the Maeda family, Edo period feudal lords of Kaga Province. The university's best known landmark, Akamon (the Red Gate), is a relic of this era. The symbol of the university is the ginkgo leaf, from the trees found throughout the area.

Sanshiro Pond

Sanshiro Pond (三四郎池, Sanshirō ike^?), university's Hongo campus, dates to 1615. After the fall of the Osaka Castle, the shogun gave this pond and its surrounding garden to Maeda Toshitsune. With further development of the garden by Maeda Tsunanori, it became known as one of the most beautiful gardens in Edo (Now Tokyo), with the traditional eight landscapes and eight borders, and known for originality in artificial pond, hills, and pavilions. It was at that time known as Ikutoku-en (Garden of Teaching Virtue). The pond's contours are in the shape of the character kokoro or shin (heart), and thus its official name is Ikutoku-en Shinjiike. It has been commonly called Sanshiro Pond after the title of Natsume Sōseki's novel Sanshiro.

Komaba Campus

One of the five campuses of the University of Tokyo, the Komaba Campus is home to the College of Arts and Sciences, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the Graduate School of Mathematical Sciences, and a number of advanced research facilities and campus services. This is the campus where all the freshmen and sophomores of the University of Tokyo spend their college life. The University of Tokyo is the only university in Japan which has a system of two years of general education before students can choose and move on to special fields of study. The Komaba Campus is the cornerstone of general education, and was designated as the "center of excellence" for three new areas of research by the Ministry of Education and Science. There are currently over 7,000 students (freshmen and sophomores) enrolled in the general education courses, about 450 students (juniors and seniors) pursuing their specialties in the College of Arts and Sciences, and 1,400 graduate students in the advanced study.

See also

• Gakushi-kai　Alumni association
• Imperial College of Engineering
• Earthquake engineering
• Kikuchi Dairoku
• Koishikawa Botanical Gardens
• Koishikawa Annex, The University Museum, The University of Tokyo
• Nikko Botanical Garden
• The University of Tokyo Library
• International Journal of Asian Studies published in association with the Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, University of Tokyo

References

External links

• University of Tokyo
• Kato, Mariko, "Todai still beckons nation's best, brightest but goals diversifying", Japan Times, August 11, 2009, p. 3.