University of Tokyo
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The University of Tokyo (東京大学; Tōkyō Daigaku, abbreviated as 東大 Tōdai) is generally ranked as Japan's most prestigious university. The University has five campuses in Hongo, Komaba, Kashiwa, Shirokane and Nakano and 10 faculties with a total of around 28,000 students, some 2,100 of them foreign (a high number by Japanese standards). While nearly all academic disciplines are taught at the University, it is perhaps best known for its faculties of law and literature. This university have produced many top Japanese politicians though the power of the school have been gradually eliminating, for example, the ration of its alumni in prime ministers are
2/3,1/2,1/4,1/5,1/6 in 1950s,60s,70s,80s,90s, respectively.
The University of Tokyo is widely thought of as being one of the most prestigious schools over many areas while its rival schools are Kyoto University as a public university, and Waseda University and Keio University as private universities. In science, Kyoto University have produced more top scientists, for example Nobel prize winners.
The main Hongo campus occupies the former estate of the Maeda family, Edo-era feudal lords of Kaga domain. The university's best known landmark, the Akamon (Red Gate) is a relic of this era. The symbol of the university is the ginkgo leaf, from the abundant trees throughout the area.
The university was founded by the Meiji government in 1877 under its current name by amalgamating older government schools for medicine and Western learning. It was renamed to 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 1887, when the imperial university system was created. In 1947, after Japan's defeat in World War II, it assumed the original name again. With the start of the new university system in 1949, Todai swallowed up the old First Higher School (today's Komaba campus) and the old 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.
Faculties and Graduate Schools
Faculties
- Law
- Medicine
- Engineering
- Letters
- Science
- Agriculture
- Economics
- Arts and Sciences
- Education
- Pharmaceutical Sciences
Graduate Schools
- Law and Politics
- Medicine
- Engineering
- Humanities and Sociology
- Science
- Agricultural and Life Sciences
- Economics
- Arts and Sciences
- Education
- Pharmaceutical Sciences
- Mathematical Sciences
- Frontier Sciences
- Information Science and Technology
- Interdisciplinary Information Studies
Research Institutes
- Institute of Medical Science
- Earthquake Research Institute
- Institute of Oriental Culture
- Institute of Social Science
- Institute of Socio-Information and Communication Studies
- Institute of Industrial Science
- Historiographical Institute
- Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences
- Institure for Cosmic Ray Research
- Institute for Solid State Physics
- Ocean Research Institute
Famous alumni
Prime Ministers
Others
- Toshihiko Fukui, governor of the Bank of Japan
- Tadatoshi Akiba, mayor of Hiroshima
- Abe Kobo, author
- Akutagawa Ryunosuke, author
- Esaki Leona, physicist, Nobel laureate
- Kawabata Yasunari, author, Nobel laureate
- Koshiba Masatoshi, physicist, Nobel laureate
- Mishima Yukio, author
- Mori Ogai, author
- Natsume Soseki, author
- Oe Kenzaburo, author, Nobel laureate
- Ong Iok-tek, linguist
- Masako Owada, Crown Princess
- Toyoda Eiji, industrialist
University of Tokyo in fiction
In the manga and anime Love Hina, the main character, Keitaro Urashima, is a ronin who failed the entrance exam for the University of Tokyo. He later passes the exam.
See also
