Tuesday, March 28, 2006

University of Tokyo
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

University of Tokyo 東京大学 (Tōkyō Daigaku)
Logo of the University of Tokyo
Established 1877
Type Public
Staff 4,100
President Hiroshi Komiyama
Undergraduates 14,000
Postgraduates 14,000
Location Bunkyo, Tokyo Japan
Campus setting Urban
Member of Tokyo 6 Universities
Website www.u-tokyo.ac.jp

The University of Tokyo (東京大学; Tōkyō Daigaku, abbreviated as 東大 Tōdai) is generally ranked as Japan's most prestigious university, as well as a leading university in Asia. The University has five campuses in Hongo, Komaba, Kashiwa, Shirokane and Nakano and 10 faculties with a total of around 30,000 students, some 2,100 of them foreign (a large fraction 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 has produced many top Japanese politicians though the power of the school has been gradually decreasing. For example; the ratio of its alumni in prime ministers is 2/3, 1/2, 1/4, 1/5 and 1/6 in the 1950s, 60s, 70s, 80s and 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 the other 6 of Seven Universities, which were Imperial Universities before World War II, especially Kyoto University. In science, Kyoto University has produced more top scientists and Nobel prize winners. One of the presidents of Tokyo Imperial University was Kikuchi Dairoku.

It is one of the Tokyo 6 Universities in baseball.

The Akamon (Red Gate)
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The Akamon (Red Gate)

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, 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 universityWorld War II, it assumed the original name again. With the start of the new university system in 1949, Tōdai 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. system was created. In 1947, after Japan's defeat in

The University of Tokyo has since 2004 been incorporated as a national university corporation under a new law which applies to all national universities.

Despite the incorporation, which has led to increased financial independence and autonomy, The University of Tokyo is still partly controlled by the Japanese Ministry of Education (Monbukagakusho, or Monkasho).


Faculties and Graduate Schools

Faculties

The Yasuda Auditorium on the University of Tokyo's Hongo Campus.
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The Yasuda Auditorium on the University of Tokyo's Hongo Campus.
  • 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
  • Public Policy

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


Mathematicians


Others


Sanshiro Pond

Sanshiro Pond detail, Tokyo University's Hongo campus.
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Sanshiro Pond detail, Tokyo University's Hongo campus.

Sanshiro Pond, in the heart of the 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. As Maeda Tsunanori further developed the garden, it became known as one of the most beautiful gardens in Edo (now Tokyo), with the traditional eight landscapes and eight borders, but also known for its originality in its 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. However it has been commonly called Sanshiro Pond since the publication of Natsume Soseki's novel Sanshiro.

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 several times. He later passes the exam.
  • The manga Dragon Zakura is about a poor lawyer—and former motorcycle gang member—who tries to make students from a high school with a poor academic standing enter the University of Tokyo directly upon graduation.
  • The DC Comics character Superman is frequently seen in flashbacks as attending the University of Tokyo in his secret identity of Clark Kent.
  • The teacher/stalker character Suguru Teshigawara from the popular manga and animeGreat Teacher Onizuka was educated at the University of Tokyo and often takes pride in his education. series

University of Tokyo in Asia
Top 100 Asia Pacific Universities(2005) by Institute of Higher Education, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China.

  1. The University of Tokyo
  2. Kyoto University
  3. Australian National University
  4. Osaka University
  5. Tohoku University
  6. Hebrew University of Jerusalem
  7. University of Melbourne
  8. Tokyo Institute of Technology

btw, NUS is ranked regionally between 9-19 and NTU, 37-65 =)

posted by Anonymous @ 2:11 PM   1 comments

1 Comments:

At 9:49 PM, Blogger A Yen for Japan said...

Hi again. Hongo campus is for the 3rd & 4th year students. Komaba is for the freshman and 2nd years, which is our target campus. Yes, it has a few new additions.
Mei Yen

 

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