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Public research university in Tokyo, Japan From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The University of Tokyo (東京大学, Tōkyō daigaku, abbreviated as Tōdai (東大) in Japanese and UTokyo in English[7]) is a public research university in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1877 as the nation's first modern university by the merger of several pre-westernisation era institutions, its direct precursors include the Tenmongata, founded in 1684, and the Shoheizaka Institute.[8]
東京大学 | |
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| Latin: Universitas Tociensis | |
Other name | UTokyo |
|---|---|
Former name | Tokyo Imperial University |
| Type | Research university |
| Established | April 12, 1877 |
Academic affiliations | IARU AEARU AGS BESETOHA AALAU |
| Budget | 280 billion JPY (US$2.54 billion) (2021)[1] |
| President | Teruo Fujii |
Academic staff | 6,311 (3,937 full-time / 2,374 part-time) (2022)[2] |
Total staff | 11,487 |
| Students | 28,133 (2022)[3] excluding research students and auditors |
| Undergraduates | 13,962 (2022)[4] |
| Postgraduates | 14,171 (2022)[5] including Professional degree courses |
| Address | 7 Chome-3-1 Hongo , , , 113-8654 , 35°42′48″N 139°45′44″E |
| Campus | Urban (Hongo, Komaba) Suburban (Kashiwa) |
| Language | Japanese English (for certain courses) |
| Colours | Tansei (UTokyo Blue)[6] |
| Website | u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/ |
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Although established under its current name, the university was renamed Imperial University (帝國大學, Teikoku daigaku) in 1886 and was further retitled Tokyo Imperial University (東京帝國大學, Tōkyō teikoku daigaku) to distinguish it from other imperial universities established later.[9] It served under this name until the official dissolution of the Empire of Japan in 1947, when it reverted to its original name. Since its founding, the university has maintained its status as the country's premier higher educational institution, with its educational and research standards consistently recognised as the best in the country across almost all fields it covers.[10][11]
Today, the university consists of 10 faculties, 15 graduate schools, and 11 affiliated research institutes.[12] As of 2023, it has a total of 13,974 undergraduate students and 14,258 graduate students.[12] The majority of the university's educational and research facilities are concentrated within its three main Tokyo campuses: Hongo, Komaba, and Kashiwa.[13] Additionally, UTokyo operates several smaller campuses in the Greater Tokyo Area and over 60 facilities across Japan and globally.[14][15] UTokyo's total land holdings amount to 326 square kilometres (approximately 80,586 acres or 32,600 hectares), placing it amongst the largest landowners in the country.[16][17]
As of 2024, UTokyo's alumni and faculty include 17 prime ministers of Japan out of 64, 18 Nobel Prize laureates, five astronauts, and a Fields Medalist.[18] Additionally, UTokyo alumni have founded some of Japan's largest companies, such as Toyota[19] and Hitachi.[20] UTokyo alumni also hold chief executive positions in approximately a quarter of the Nikkei 225 companies (47 in 2014),[21] a fifth of the total seats in the National Diet (139 out of 713 in 2023),[22][23] more than half of the prefectual governorships (27 out of 47 in 2023),[24] and about two thirds of the justiceships at the Supreme Court of Japan (11 out of 15 in 2024).[25]
The University of Tokyo traces its roots to three independent institutes founded during the Edo period (1603–1868).[8] The oldest, a Shogun-funded Confucian school called Senseiden (先聖殿), was founded in 1630 by Razan Hayashi in Ueno.[26] This school was renamed the Shoheizaka Institute (昌平坂学問所, Shoheizaka Gakumonjo) and came to be operated directly by the Tokugawa Shogunate in 1791 as part of the Kansei Reforms. The Tenmongata, established in 1684, was the astronomical research and education arm of the Shogunate.[27] It evolved into the Kaisei School (開成学校), a school for Western learnings, after the Meiji Restoration. The Kanda Otamagaike Vaccination Centre, established in 1858,[28] evolved into a school of Western medicine called Tokyo Medical School (東京医学校, Tokyo Igakko). Although plans to establish the country's first university had been in place just after the Meiji Restoration, it was not until around 1875 that it was decided to form the university by merging these schools.[29]
The University of Tokyo was chartered on 12 April 1877 by the Meiji government. Corresponding to the fields covered by the predecessor schools, it started with four faculties: Law, Science, Letters, and Medicine. The Imperial College of Engineering later merged into the university and became the Faculty of Engineering. In 1886, the university was renamed Imperial University, and it adopted the name Tokyo Imperial University in 1897 after the founding of the next imperial university, what is now Kyoto University.[9] By 1888, all faculties had completed their relocation to the former site of the Tokyo house of the Maeda family in Hongo, where they continue to operate today. Among the few extant structures built before this relocation is a gate called Akamon, which has become a widely recognised symbol of the university.
During its initial two decades as a modern institution, UTokyo greatly benefited from the contributions of European and American scholars. In 1871, the Meiji Government made a decision about the direction of academic disciplines: engineering was to be learnt from the United Kingdom, mathematics, physics, and international law from France, while politics, economics, and medicine were to be guided by German expertise. Additionally, agriculture and commercial law knowledge was to be sourced from the United States.[30] Following this policy, UTokyo and its predecessor institutions sent their graduates to universities in these respective countries and also invited lecturers from them. However, by the 1880s, the Japanese government grew concerned over the spread of French republican and British constitutional monarchist ideals among the faculty and students, so Minister of Education Takato Oki instructed the university to reduce the use of English as a language of instruction, and instead to switch to Japanese.[31] This shift coincided with the return of UTokyo alumni who had completed their education in Europe, and these returnees began filling roles that had been predominantly held by foreign scholars.
On 1 September 1923, the Great Kanto Earthquake struck the Kanto Plain, inflicting immense damage upon the university. This damage included the complete destruction of almost all main buildings, including the library, as well as the loss of precious scientific and historical samples and data stored in them.[32][33] This led to a university-wide debate as to whether it should relocate to a larger site, such as Yoyogi, but ultimately, such plans were rejected. Instead, the university purchased additional land in its vicinity, which was still owned by the Maeda family, and expanded there.
The reconstruction of the university and its library was brought up in the fourth general assembly of the League of Nations in September 1923, where it was unanimously decided to provide support. The League is said to have been sympathetic especially because the memory of the destruction of KU Leuven in Belgium during the First World War was still fresh.[34] The American philanthropist John D. Rockefeller Jr. personally donated $2 million (approximately $36 million in 2023). The United Kingdom formed a committee led by former Prime Minister Earl Arthur Balfour, and made substantial financial and cultural contributions.[35] A large portion of the buildings on Hongo Campus today were built during this reconstruction period, and their unique Collegiate Gothic style is known as Uchida Gothic (内田ゴシック) after Yoshikazu Uchida, the architect who designed them.[36]
Another notable change the earthquake brought about at the university was the expansion of its seismology studies. Long having been the only university in the seismically active country, the university was already known for its seismology research, most notably the contributions made by its alumnus and professor, Fusakichi Omori, in quantitatively evaluating the aftershocks of earthquakes (Omori's law) and developing a new type of seismometer capable of recording primary waves.[37] The university set up an independent seismology department in November 1923 to delve deeply into the causes and effects of earthquakes and to better prepare for future seismic events.[38] In 1925, with a government grant, the Earthquake Research Institute was established within the university, and it has been in continuous operation up to today.[39]
In 1941, the Empire of Japan attacked the American bases at Pearl Harbor and joined the World War II as an Axis power alongside Germany. By late 1943, as Japan faced significant defeats in the Pacific theatre, a decision was made to enlist university students studying humanities, sending them to battlefields. During the war, 1,652 students and alumni of UTokyo were killed, including those from varied civilian professions such as doctors, engineers, and diplomats, as well as those killed in action.[40] They are commemorated in a memorial erected near the front gate of the Hongo Campus. Most students from faculties of engineering and science remained at university or worked as apprentice engineers, as the expertise of science and technology was deemed indispensable for the war effort. Leo Esaki, who was a student at the department of physics during the war, shared his memory of his university life in 2007: 'The day after the Tokyo Air Raid of 9 March 1945, during which more than 100 thousand citizens were killed, professor Tanaka conducted class as usual, without mentioning the war at all'.[41] The buildings and facilities of UTokyo were largely immune from air raids, allowing education and research activities to continue.[42]
The increased demand brought about by the war for engineers, especially in the fields of aeronautics, machinery, electronics, and shipbuilding, led to the establishment of the second faculty of engineering (第二工学部) at UTokyo in 1942. In the newly built Chiba Campus, around 800 students were enrolled at one time, and pivotal military engineering research activities were conducted. It was closed in 1951, and as a successor organisation, the Institute of Industrial Science was established on the site of the former headquarters of the Third Infantry Regiment in Roppongi.[43][44] During the war, the Imperial Army attempted to use the university's facilities several times, including plans to relocate the university to Sendai and use the Hongo Campus as a fortress for the anticipated Allied landing, Operation Downfall, to protect the Imperial Palace. President Yoshikazu Uchida consistently denied these requests by persuading them of the importance of culture, education and research for the country's long-term development. In September 1945, efforts by Uchida and Shigeru Nambara, Dean of the Faculty of Law, prevented the campus from becoming the Allied Headquarters.[45] Instead, the Dai-Ichi Seimei Building was chosen. Nambara succeeded Uchida as president in December 1945.
During the American occupation era following Japan's defeat in World War II, the university dropped the word 'imperial' from its name and reverted to its original name "University of Tokyo". During this period, Japan's education system was reformed to align more with the American system. As a result, UTokyo under merged with two Higher Schools, which were university preparatory boy's boarding schools and thus became a four-year university as it is today in 1949. One of the higher schools that merged with UTokyo, the First Higher School, became the College of Arts and Sciences.[46] This new college, operating on the same campus of Komaba as the higher school, took on the responsibility of educating all undergraduates for the first year and a half of their degrees. It was also during this period that UTokyo first opened its doors to female students. The first nineteen female students were matriculated in April 1946.[47]
The 1960s saw an intensification of student protests across the world, including the Anti-Vietnam War protests and the May 68 events in France. This zeitgeist of the era was prominently felt in Japan as well, symbolised by the 1960 Anpo protests, in which the death of a UTokyo student, Michiko Kamba, caused public outrage. In 1968, the University of Tokyo Conflict (東大紛争, Tōdai Funsō) began with medical students demanding improvements in internship conditions, in which medical students were forced to work long hours without being paid before being licensed as a doctor.
The conflict intensified with the indefinite strike decision by the students in January 1968 and escalated further following a clash between the students and faculty. Tensions peaked when radical students, most of whom were members of the Zenkyōtō (the All-Campus Joint Struggle Committees), occupied Yasuda Auditorium, leading the university to eventually call in riot police in June— a move seen as abandoning university autonomy. Efforts to resolve the situation began with the resignation of university executives and the appointment of Ichiro Kato as interim president, who started negotiations. The conflict largely ended in January 1969 after a full-scale police operation to remove the occupying students. This operation involved more than 8,500 riot police officers confronting students who fought back with Molotov cocktails and marble stones taken from the auditorium's interior.[48] Prime Minister Eisaku Sato, who was an alumnus of UTokyo himself, visited the site the day after the protesters in the auditorium were forcibly removed, and decided to cancel that year's admission process. This led top highschool students to apply reluctantly to other universities such as Kyoto University and Hitotsubashi University, resulting in many applicants who would have been admitted to those universities under normal circumstances failing to gain admission, since applicants are not allowed to apply to multiple prestigious national universities in Japan.[49] The aftermath saw 633 prosecutions, and varied sentences, marking a turbulent chapter in the university's history.[50]
The university first admitted female students in 1946. While the student body has remained predominantly male, various attempts have been made to achieve a more equal gender ratio. In 2023, women made up 23 per cent of first-year undergraduates, the highest percentage in the university's history.[51] A quarter of graduate students were female in 2022.[52][53]
When the British magazine Times Higher Education first published its world university rankings in partnership with QS in 2004, the University of Tokyo was ranked 12th in the world. In the latest 2024 edition of the rankings, it is ranked 29th.[54] QS, now has its own rankings, placed the UTokyo at 28th.[55] As these numbers suggest, there is a widely shared concern that the university is falling behind its counterparts in the world, and in the future it may struggle to provide a suitable environment for quality education and world-class research.[56]
UTokyo faces a challenging reality. Japan's long-lasting economic downturn since the 1990s has led to Japanese companies less willing to invest in research and development than before.[57] Additionally, the government's Management Expense Grant (運営費交付金) has been reduced by one per cent annually since 2004.[58] This policy, ostensibly aimed at decreasing the university's reliance on the grant and fostering greater independence, has been blamed as one of the main reasons for the decline in the university's competitiveness.[59]
To address these challenges, UTokyo has implemented various reforms. In 2004, the University of Tokyo Edge Capital Partners (UTEC) was established. This venture capital firm, affiliated with the university, supports entrepreneurship arising from UTokyo's research and development, aiming to drive innovation across society.[60] In 2006, the first phase of development was completed at Kashiwa Campus. Situated in the suburb of Kashiwa, this research-focused campus spans 405,313 square metres (100 acres) and has been at the forefront of advanced scientific research since its inception.[61] In 2010, in an attempt to further internationalise and diversify its student body, the university increased its autumn enrollment opportunities for international students.[62] UTokyo plans to increase the proportion of female faculty members to above a quarter by newly creating positions for 300 female lecturers by 2027.[63] In 2021, the newly elected President Teruo Fujii announced the UTokyo Compass, a guiding framework for the university during his tenure, focusing on diversity, dialogue, and creating a better future.[64] It emphasises the university's autonomy and creativity in a new era, advocating multifaceted perspectives on knowledge, people, and places. The Compass encourages dialogue throughout the university and society as a pivotal tool for understanding and questioning, fostering inclusivity, and tackling global challenges. In his announcement, he pledged to make UTokyo 'a university that anyone in the world would like to join'.[64]
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The University of Tokyo's admission process (東大入試, todai nyushi) is regarded as the most selective in Japan and is almost synonymous with something that is difficult to achieve.[65] To apply, candidates must achieve high scores in the Common Test for University Admissions, a standardised multiple-choice examination. UTokyo applicants are required to take at least seven subjects in this exam. Applicants for natural sciences take two mathematics tests, Japanese (which includes modern language, classics, and Chinese classics), a foreign language, sciences (two from physics, chemistry, biology, and geology), and one social study subject chosen from geography, Japanese history, or world history. Humanities candidates take two social studies subjects and one science subject instead.[66]
Based on the scores from the Common Test, approximately three times the number of the final admission slots are invited to take the main examination in late February. Based on the idea that regardless of the field of specialisation, all students should have a solid understanding of mathematics and a good command of languages, mathematics, Japanese and one foreign language are compulsory for all applicants.[67] For this exam, science candidates are tested in Advanced Mathematics, English, Japanese, and two science subjects. Humanities candidates take Mathematics, a foreign language, Advanced Japanese, and two social studies subjects (options are geography, Japanese history and world history). UTokyo is also known to be the only university that requires all applicants, including those who wish to study natural sciences, to take a non-mulltiple-choice Japanese and Chinese classics exam. Some applicants are called upon to take an interview.[68]
Successful candidates are notified in March of the same year and are matriculated in April. The official acceptance rates for undergraduate degrees are relatively[compared to?] high, at around 30 per cent,[69] which is due to the policy of restricting the number of students who can sit for the exam based on the scores from the Common Test.[70] Additionally, Japan's university admission policy does not allow applicants to apply to multiple prestigious national universities,[71] hence non-prospective students tend to switch to other national universities where they are more likely to secure admission.
The matriculation ceremony takes place on 12 April, the foundation day of the university.[72] All first-year students are matriculated at the College of Arts and Sciences at Komaba, which is a remnant of the time when the Komaba Campus served as the separate boarding school known as the First Higher School until 1949.[73] There, they spend the first one and a half years of their degrees. Students are required to study a foreign language they have never learnt for at least a year, with classes formed based on their choices. Popular languages include Chinese, French, German, Korean, Spanish, and Russian. These classes are meant to be places where students can interact with peers from different backgrounds and forge long-lasting friendships, especially because they spend a considerable amount of time together. There is a tradition where the previous year's class (上クラ, uekura) invites the juniors to overnight orientation camps (オリ合宿, ori gasshuku) in early April.[74]
Intense academic competition is common among students in the junior division, as they face matriculation to the senior division (進学選択, shingaku sentaku, or colloquially shinfuri, 進振り) in September of their second year, where they are assigned to departments based on their grades for the first one and a half years at Komaba.[75] The Department of Information Science, the Faculty of Medicine, and the Department of Sociology are amongst the most selective departments in the Shingaku Sentaku.[76]
Despite its roots as a boarding school, most undergraduates at the university either live with their families at home or in non-university accommodation. Since the closure of the Komaba dormitory (駒場寮, Komaba-ryo) in August 2001, there has been no on-campus accommodation for domestic students at the university. There are four university dormitories available for undergraduate students: Mitaka, Toshima, Oiwake and Mejirodai.[77] In 2021, approximately five per cent of the undergraduate students lived in one of the university dormitories.[78] The university offers more options for international students, with on-campus dormitories available for them at Komaba and Kashiwa.
The Todai Shimbun (東大新聞) is the oldest university newspaper still in operation, with its first issue in 1920.[79] The editing committee of the newspaper has produced multiple central figures in the country's publishing industry. Recruit, a human resources company with the 13th largest market capitalisation among all publicly traded companies in the country as of March 2024, spun off from the Todai Shimbun's advertisement branch in 1961.[80] There are several other newer campus newspapers and magazines, the most notable of which is the Kokasha (恒河沙).[81] The Kokasha's start-of-term issues include evaluations of lecturers by students from the previous year, and are widely read by students in the junior division to decide which modules to take at the beginning of terms. Additionally, there are several other relatively new student magazines, such as the biscUiT,[82] the Todai Shimpo and the Komaba Times.[83] Apart from those, student web media such as the UT-base[84] and the UmeeT are widely read by students.
After completing the Shingaku Sentaku, second-year students matriculate into senior division departments to specialise in their chosen fields. With the exception of the senior division of the College of Arts and Sciences and the Department of Mathematics, which are located in Komaba, all other senior departments are situated in Hongo. Consequently, approximately 85 per cent of the students start a new chapter of their university life there.[85]
The Hongo Campus is located closer to the centre of Tokyo, and has more restaurants, cafes, and large museums in the vicinity compared to Komaba. In addition to these, the campus itself has fifteen refectories and restaurants, nine cafes, nine convenience stores and kiosks, one bookshop, two barbershops, and an underground gym with two 25-metre pools.[86][87][88]
Graduation ceremonies take place towards the end of March. Approximately one-third of the graduates enter the workforce upon graduation, while the remainder continue their studies at graduate schools within the university or at universities abroad.[89] Popular places of employment for UTokyo graduates include the university itself, government ministries, global conglomerates such as Sony and Hitachi, consulting firms such as McKinsey & Company and PwC Consulting, trading companies such as Mitsubishi Corp and Mitsui Corp, and investment banks.[90]
As of 1 November 2023, the University of Tokyo hosts 5,106 international students, who represent 17.7 per cent of the total student body. Of these, 4,874 are postgraduate students and 460 are undergraduates. Exchange students and postdoctoral researchers are not included in these numbers.[91]
At the undergraduate level, there are mainly three routes for those who have not received their secondary education in Japanese to apply to the University of Tokyo. First, individuals with high Japanese proficiency can apply through the special admissions process for students educated overseas (外国学校卒業学生特別選考).[92] Students admitted via this route study alongside their peers who received secondary education in Japanese. International students who apply via this route sometimes spend a year studying the language at preparatory schools before matriculation. Second, there are undergraduate programmes called PEAK (Programs in English at Komaba), which accept applications based on international qualifications such as the A-level, SAT, and International Baccalaureate. All modules in these programmes are taught in English. However, learning Japanese is mandatory, and those confident in their Japanese ability can take modules taught in Japanese in other departments.[93] Third, the university offers exchange programmes with universities worldwide.[94] There are University-wide Student Exchange Programmes (USTEP) with universities such as Tsinghua University, Princeton University, National University of Singapore and Yale University.[95] The College of Arts and Sciences has its own exchange programmes called KOMSTEP with universities such as University of Paris.[96] The Faculty of Engineering also has its own exchange programmes, whose partner institutions include Petroleum Institute, Abu Dhabi, University of Cambridge, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.[97]
Starting in Autumn 2027, UTokyo plans to offer a five-year programme called the College of Design. The programme aims to 'redefine design as a broad concept (...) based on interdisciplinary knowledge that integrates the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, engineering and other fields'.[98] Approximately 100 students will be matriculated annually, with half of them coming from overseas.[99]
A wider variety of postgraduate programmes are offered in English,[100] making the international student ratio significantly higher for postgraduate studies (31.32 per cent in November 2023).[91]
The University of Tokyo operates under a central administration system, with policies often determined by the administrative council led by the president.[101] However, due to the university's history as an amalgamation of various institutions, each of the university's constituent colleges, faculties and institutes has its own administrative board. Today, the University of Tokyo is organised into 10 faculties[102] and 15 graduate schools.[103]
The leader of the University of Tokyo is known as the president (総長, socho) and it is not a ceremonial role. They are elected every six years by the university's board council from among the faculty members. The current president is Teruo Fujii, a scholar in applied microfluidics, who assumed the role in April 2021 and is expected to serve until March 2027.[104]
At the centre of the University of Tokyo's research and education efforts are 10 faculties and their affiliated graduate schools. This organisational structure, introduced as a result of reforms in the 1990s, aims to maximise the outcomes of education and research by integrating them across undergraduate and graduate levels, rather than maintaining separate focuses for each.[105]
| Faculty | Founded | Locations | Affiliated graduate schools | Colour |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Law | 1872 | Hongo | Graduate Schools for Law and Politics | Green |
| Medicine | 1868 | Hongo, Shirokane | Graduate School of Medicine | Red |
| Engineering | 1871 | Hongo, Kashiwa, KomabaII, Asano | Graduate School of Engineering, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, Graduate School of Information Science and Technology | White |
| Letters | 1868 | Hongo | Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology | None |
| Science | 1877 | Hongo, Komaba (maths) | Graduate School of Science, Graduate School of Mathematical Sciences | Benikaba |
| Agriculture | 1886 | Hongo (Yayoi) | Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences | Indigo |
| Economics | 1919 | Hongo | Graduate School of Economics | Blue |
| Arts and Sciences | 1886 | Komaba | Graduate School of Arts and Sciences | Black and Yellow |
| Education | 1949 | Hongo, Nakano | Graduate School of Education | Orange |
| Pharmaceutical Sciences | 1958 | Hongo | Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences | Enji |
In addition to the graduate schools affiliated with specific faculties, the University of Tokyo also includes two independent graduate institutions: the Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies and the Graduate School of Public Policy (GraSPP).
Apart from the faculties and graduate schools, the University of Tokyo hosts eleven affiliated research institutes (附置研究所). These institutes serve as research hubs in their respective fields, aiming to widely disseminate their findings for societal benefit. Simultaneously, they function as educational institutions for the graduate schools.[106][107][108]
| Institute | |
|---|---|
| Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute (大気海洋研究所) | Advances basic research on oceans and atmosphere, focusing on climate change and evolution of life, and offers graduate education. |
| Earthquake Research Institute | Conducts basic research on earthquakes and volcanic phenomena, aiming at disaster prevention and mitigation. |
| Historiographical Institute | Focuses on collecting, researching, and editing historical documents, especially in the field of pre-modern Japanese history. |
| Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia (formerly known as Institute of Oriental Culture, 東洋文化研究所) | Specialises in comprehensive studies of Asia, including humanities and social sciences, and collaborates internationally. |
| Institute for Cosmic Ray Research | Observes cosmic rays and particles for research in astrophysics and particle physics. |
| Institute for Solid State Physics (物性研究所) | Researches the properties of materials at the microscopic level, using advanced technologies such as quantum beams and supercomputers. |
| Institute of Industrial Science (生産技術研究所) | Engages in applied research integrating various fields of engineering, covering almost all aspects of engineering. |
| Institute of Medical Science | Focuses on diseases such as cancer and infectious diseases, aiming at innovative treatment methods including genomics and AI in healthcare. |
| Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (定量生命科学研究所) | Conducts advanced research in describing all life dynamics by physical quantities, incorporating fields such as mathematics, physics, and chemistry. |
| Institute of Social Science (社会科学研究所) | Aims at producing 'comprehensive knowledge' in social sciences, conducting joint research and providing an international platform for empirical social science research. |
| Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology (先端科学技術研究センター) | Engages in interdisciplinary research in various fields such as materials, environment, information, and social sciences, aiming at pioneering new scientific and technological areas. |
UTokyo Institutes For Advanced Study (UTIAS) started in January 2011. Its primary objective is to improve academic excellence and foster an internationalised research environment. There are four UTIAS institutes as of November 2023:[109]
| Institute | |
|---|---|
| Tokyo College | Established in February 2019 to collaboratively explore the future of humanity and Earth. Engages in interdisciplinary research on themes such as the digital revolution, Earth's limits, Japan's future, future humanities, and the future of life. It also acts as a host institution for visiting professors, including Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba Group.[110][111] |
| Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe | Focuses on fundamental questions about the universe, including dark energy, dark matter, and unified theories, with interdisciplinary approaches involving mathematics, physics, and astronomy. |
| International Research Center for Neurointelligence (IRCN) | Established in October 2017 to create a new field of 'Neurointelligence'. Integrating life sciences, medicine, linguistics, mathematics, and information science, it chiefly aims to further understand human intelligence, and utilise the outcomes to overcome mental illnesses, and develop new types of AI based on brain functioning. |
| The University of TOkyo Pandemic preparedness, Infection and Advanced research center (UTOPIA) | Established in October 2022, its aim is to equip the society with resilience against future pandemics through fundamental research in infectious diseases, immunity. It takes multi-disciplinary approaches involving immunology, structural biology, AI, and social sciences, and aims to develop systems for quickly providing effective and safe vaccines and treatments in emergencies. |
The University of Tokyo Library System consists of three comprehensive libraries located on the main campuses—Hongo, Komaba, and Kashiwa—along with 27 other field-specific libraries operated by various faculties and research institutes.[112] As of 2023, the University of Tokyo library has a collection of over 9.9 million books and numerous materials of historical importance.[113] This extensive collection ranks it as the second-largest library in Japan, surpassed only by the National Diet Library, which holds a collection of approximately 46.8 million books.[114] It also subscribes to about 170,000 journals, contributing to research activities throughout the university.
The headquarters of the library is situated in the General Library at Hongo, which underwent thorough renovation in the late 2010s. It now features a 46-metre-deep automated underground storage capable of housing approximately 3 million books.[115]
The University of Tokyo Hospital is an academic health science centre operated by the Faculty of Medicine. The hospital finds its roots in the Kanda Otamagaike Vaccination Centre, established in 1858. It has 37 clinical examination rooms for a wide range of specialisations including Cardiovascular Medicine and Orthopaedic Surgery, among others. With a capacity of 1,210 beds, the hospital facilitated medical services for 389,830 inpatients and 794,454 outpatients in the fiscal year 2010.[116] Newsweek's World's Best Hospitals 2023 ranks it 17th in the world, 2nd in Asia, and 1st in Japan.[117] It serves as the primary hospital for the Imperial Family of Japan, with both the current emperor and the emperor emeritus having undergone major operations there.[118][119]
The University of Tokyo operates eight museums, three of which fall under the purview of the University Museum (UMUT).
| Museum | Location | Operator | |
|---|---|---|---|
| University Museum | The largest university museum in Japan, it has amassed over three million academic materials since 1877. It has hosted numerous planned exhibitions in addition to its permanent exhibition. | Hongo | UMUT |
| INTERMEDIATHEQUE | A joint venture with Japan Post, it's housed in the JP Tower in Marunouchi and focuses on interdisciplinary experimentation, showcasing scientific and cultural heritage. | JP Tower, Marunouchi, Chiyoda | UMUT/Japan Post |
| University Museum, Koishikawa Annex | Located in one of the University of Tokyo's oldest buildings, it displays architectural models and photographs documenting the construction of various famous structures from around the world. | Koishikawa botanical garden | UMUT |
| Komaba Museum | Combining an art and a natural science museum, it features collaborative exhibitions that transcend the boundaries of liberal arts and science. | Komaba | College of Arts and Sciences |
| Museum of Health and Medicine | Provides information about health and medicine. | Hongo | Faculty of Medicine |
| Medical Science Museum | Aims to preserve and display historical medical materials, offering a tranquil environment for visitors to reflect on the past, present, and future of medical science. | Shirokanedai | Institute of Medical Sciences |
| Farm Museum | Located in a renovated dairy barn in the Tanashi University Farm, it showcases farming implements and other agricultural artefacts. | Tanashi farm | Faculty of Agriculture |
| Agricultural Museum | Displays items related to agriculture, including artefacts such as Hachiko's internal organs. | Yayoi | Faculty of Agriculture |
Apart from the aforementioned museums, the University of Tokyo operates several other public facilities, the most notable of which are two botanical gardens managed by the Faculty of Science: Koishikawa and Nikko.
| Koishikawa Botanical Garden | Established in 1684, this botanical garden has been operated by the University of Tokyo since its foundation as a modern university in 1877.[120] It was in this garden that in 1894 Hirase Sakugoro the discovered spermatozoids of the ginkgo, proving that gymnosperms produce sperm cells. The garden is designated as a National Monument and is open to the public for an admission fee of 500 yen (free for UTokyo students and faculty).[121] |
| Nikko Botanical Garden | Opened in 1902 as an annex to the Koishikawa Garden, this facility is located in the highland resort town of Nikko and primarily focuses on alpine plants. It has become a popular tourist destination in Nikko and is accessible to the public with an admission fee of 500 yen.[122] |
| Income (billion yen) | Expenses (billion yen) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Government fundings | 93.1 | Personnel | 106.1 |
| Self-earned income | 81.2 | Equipment | 134.7 |
| External fundings
(research grants, endowments) |
91.7 | Depreciation | 27.9 |
In 2021-2022, the university had an income of 264.1 billion yen. Of this, 93.4 billion yen (35.1%) was funded by the government, primarily through the Expense Management Grant (運営費交付金). Despite being a national university, this grant from the government has been consistently reduced, dropping from 95.5 billion yen in 2005 to 79.9 billion yen in 2022. A total of 81.2 billion yen (30.5%) was self-earned, through sources such as the university hospitals (54.7 billion yen) and academic fees (16.6 billion yen). The remainder, 91.7 billion yen (34.4%), came from external funding, such as research grants and endowments. Although research grants are primarily earned by research groups and not by the university, the university can typically claim up to 30% of them for university operations, which is included in this number.[123]
The total assets of the university are valued at 1.47 trillion yen as of 31 March 2024. Land holdings make up the largest percentage of this figure, valued at 878 billion yen.[124] UTokyo's endowment fund is relatively small, at 44 billion yen as of March 2023. This is because national universities in Japan, including UTokyo, were not allowed to invest in high-risk assets until 2018, so endowments were spent rather than invested until that point.[125] The UTokyo Foundation is the primary fundraising arm of the university, and it accepts both endowments for the university as a whole and purpose-specific donations.[126]
UTokyo's tuition fees have been fixed at 535,000 yen annually for undergraduates and master's students since 2005, regardless of their status (whether domestic or international).[127] This makes up approximately 5% of the university's income. However, the decline in government funding and the university's international standing have brought about discussions on whether to raise these fees.[128]
Since its foundation in 1877 as a modern university, the University of Tokyo has conducted numerous research projects across various fields, achieving notable outcomes. Below are some widely recognised research endeavours conducted by individuals and teams affiliated with the University of Tokyo at the time of their research.
