University of Tokyo, Komaba Campus

Being one of the five campuses of University of Tokyo, Komaba Campus is home to the department of 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. It’s the campus for all the freshmen and sophomores in undergraduate school. Therefore, every University of Tokyo student has spent at least two years in the Komaba Campus. University of Tokyo is the only University in Japan which has a system of two years of general education before let the students choose and move on to the major studies. In this system, the Komaba Campus is the cornerstone of the general education, and was designated as the “center of excellence” for three new areas of research by the Japanese Ministry of Education and Science. There are currently over 7,000 students in the junior division (freshmen and sophomores) for College of Arts and Sciences, about 450 students in the senior division, and 1,400 graduate students devoting in their studies.

History

The Komaba Campus is located in Komaba, Meguro district, Tokyo. This area was called Komaba Meadows, served as hunting ground for the Tokugawa family. In 1878, the Komaba School of Agriculture was founded, and in 1919, the school became Faculty of Agriculture of the Tokyo Imperial University that is the predecessor of University of Tokyo. During the World War II, many of the school buildings were destroyed and the new buildings were not built until the Faculty of Agriculture was transferred to Hongo Campus, and Komaba became Dai-ichi KotoGakko. The new buildings were constructed following the architectural styles of Hongo Campus. The Komaba Campus finally became the University’s College of General Education after incorporated into the postwar University of Tokyo, and later renamed as College of Arts and Sciences.

Buildings

Building.1

Building.1 is located in front of the Main Gate. This building is designated as Japanese cultural asset and it is one of symbolic buildings in Komaba. The clock tower is opened to the public twice a year and you can enter inside. Its shape is square with a courtyard and has about 50 rooms. So some students have to wander around to find their room. On the second floor is Academic Guidance Center, which provides students with some information about shinfuri system (nihongo|Shingaku Furiwake|進学振分け|Shingaku Furiwake) and departments. On the third floor is Student Counseling Center, where students can consult counselors.

Administration Office

Administration Office is a building on the right side of the Main Gate. Offices important for campus life are in this building. For example, Academic Affairs Division deals with reports submission and reissuing a student identification card. Student Support Division helps find part-time jobs, introduces lodgings, lends lecture rooms or equipments, and keeps unclaimed lost articles.

Information Education Building

Information Education Building is on the left side of the Main Gate. In this building, students can use dozens of PCs. With a terminal, they can send or receive e-mails, surf the Net, build Websites, make reports, and so on. Students can bring their PC and connect it to the Net, as well as use the terminal.

Auditorium (nihongo|Building 900| 900番教室|Kyuuhyakuban kyoushitsu)

Auditorium is the largest lecture room in Komaba. It seats around 600 people. It is used for not only lectures, but also explanatory meetings of some organizations or concerts. A pipe organ is on the second floor and once in a while a concert is held.

Komaba Communication Plaza (Northern Complex)

CO-OP and Bookstore are in this building. You can buy various things at CO-OP, for example: food, drinks, stationery, daily necessities, computer-related products, and so on. We can also get things necessary for lectures: draftsman's outfits, white robes, and functional calculator. Bookstore deals with from reference books or scientific books to magazines, literary works, and paperbacks.

Komaba Communication Plaza (Southern Complex)

Cafeteria Wakaba is on the first floor of this building, and Dining Icho on the second. Both refectories can accommodate about 500 people. You can enjoy various dishes at these refectories. It seems that not only students but also professors or even mothers with their children use these refectories.

Campus Plaza

Campus Plaza consists of Complex. A, B, C. The Office, meeting rooms, music studios and clubrooms are in Complex. A and B. You can always hear music played from the building. Theatrical circles use the hall in Complex. C and give public performances.

Gakusei Kaikan (nihongo|Gakusei Kaikan|学生会館|Gakusei Kaikan)

Many clubs called “circle” have their clubroom in this building. On the 1st floor are photocopiers or printing presses called Ges-pri which are used to print bills of a circle or prints for a terminal examination. Gakusei Kaikan is so crowded that numbered tickets have to be distributed before a school festival or a terminal examination. Students can buy some types of paper and borrow a stapler or a saw.

Komaba Library

Komaba Library is the second largest library of the University of Tokyo, after General Library on Hongo campus. It contains about 560,000 volumes. A student identification card is necessary to enter the Library. Reading rooms are on 2nd, 3rd, 4th floor. On the first floor are the counter, a lounge, computers for book searching, copy section, and Media Park, where students can make use of PCs. Students can borrow 5 books at a time and keep them for two weeks. In the basement there is a special collection of rarely borrowed books, or foreign language books, it has to be accessed via a special card given at the front office.

Gymnasium 1, 2

Gymnasium 1, 2 are in the northern part of Komaba Campus. Gymnasium 1 has three floors. Students can practice Judo, Kendo, table tennis, and a ball game in it. In Gymnasium 2 is a space for badminton or basketball.

Health Service Center Komaba Branch

Students can undergo a medical examination, or consult a doctor in Health Service Center. It has departments of Internal Medicine, Psychiatry, Orthopedics, Dentistry and Orthodontist, and Dermatology.

Komaba Museum

The College Art Museum on the 1st floor of Komaba Museum and the College Science Museum is on the 2nd. Both Museums are open to the public. The College Art Museum houses pictures painted in Japanese style or Western style of the Meiji or Taisho Era, archaeological materials from ancient China, Korea and Japan, Andean folk materials, and so on. On the other hand, the College Science Museum possesses extensive samples of mineral ores, fungi and insects. Also exhibited are experimental apparatuses, measuring instruments, models for teaching which were used when Western science or engineering were introduced to Japan.

tudents' Life

Circles

What are “circles”? : There are as many as 344 clubs which are called “circle” in the University of Tokyo. The difference between a “circle” and a varsity (a team that represents the university) relies upon whether the club is given certain amount of money from the university. There is only one school team for each sport, but there can be plural “circles” for one sport. “Circles” can be divided into three groups; one group is the group of “circles” which belongs to Komaba Campus and another group is the “circles” which belongs to Student-Department and the other is the group which is not admitted by the university. As students can enjoy attending “circles” or varsities only while they are in university, it is very important for “circles” and varsities to have new comers every year so that they can exist. So every year, in April (when freshmen enters universities in Japan), every "circles" and varsitied are rushing to the freshmen to have them into their “circles”. It is called (nihongo|Shinkan|新歓|Shinkan) in Japanese. And in Tokyo University, (nihongo|Shinkan|新歓|Shinkan) is so active (actually, it takes a freshman to go through the rush more than 3 hours) that freshmen are very astonished. Especially, American football varsity and boat race varsity are famous for their energetic invitation. It is said that no one can pass these two clubs without listening to their explanation about the clubs. If anyone have picture about this season, add here, please.

What kind of “circles” there are? : As stated above, there are 344 “circles” is the University of Tokyo. Exactly the half of them are sports clubs and the other half of them are cultural clubs. Among sports clubs, there are 26 tennis clubs, 10 soccer clubs, 7 basketball, badminton, volleyball and alpine clubs, 5 ski clubs, 4 Aiki-do (something like Judo) clubs and so on. Among 172 cultural clubs, 34 clubs are about music and the others are about various kinds of hobbies. If one enters the University of Tokyo and wants to join one, he/she is sure to find one that matches his interest, and if there is no “circle” that matches his/her interest, he/she can make one by him/herself. To attract various kinds of people who have the same interest, more than half of the clubs are inter-college clubs. Of course, there are clubs which is limited to the students who belong to the University of Tokyo.

Varsities(nihongo|Undoukai|運動会|Undoukai)

There are teams that represents the university called (nihongo|Undoukai|運動会|Undoukai) in Japanese. Most of the varsities are not so strong, but some varsities are very strong and famous. Here are the results of the varsities.

2006

Baseball Club: Tokyo 6 University’s League in Spring, 2006: 6th

Tokyo 6 University’s Freshmen’s Cup: 4th

Tokyo 6 University’s League in Fall, 2006: 6th

2007

Baseball Club: Tokyo 6 University’s League in Spring, 2007: 6th

Lacrosse Blue Bullets: Freshmen’s Cup: 1st

Mitaka International Hall of Residence

Located in Shinkawa, Mitaka City, Mitaka International Hall of Residence is home to most of the foreign students and is established to provide housing for Komaba students. The ratio between Japanese and international students are about 7:3, and the male to female ratio is 8:2. In each of 605 single rooms, there are equipped with basic furniture, kitchenette, shower and toilet, air-conditioner, and a telephone. Currently the monthly rent is 14,000 Japanese Yen (excluding the power and water fees), which is very low considering the regular rent in the Tokyo area. Although most of the Mitaka residents will only live in the residence for two years, the Mitaka International Hall of Residence does provide great help to the foreign students as well as Japanese students who just come to Tokyo for the education.

hiketai

The Shiketai system is one of the unique traditions of Komaba campus. Shiketai is the abbreviation for Shiken-Taisakuiin or one of the test measure committee members. The system works by first choosing a chairperson who organizes the committee by assigning different subjects to some class members who are good at the subject. The person in charge of the subject summarizes the knowledge learned during the classes and provides the class member with the material to prepare for the final. This is a cooperative system within the class, and usually, each Univ. of Tokyo students has been one of the Shiketais in some subject.

Komaba Festival

Komaba Festival, or KomabaSai in Japanese, is an annual three-day-festival held in the Komaba campus all by the students. A KomabaSai committee, which will be in charge of the festival, is usually set up in early June. The members of the committee are mainly made up with the freshmen and sophomores studying on the Komaba Campus. Therefore, it is considered one of the most energetic　campus festival. Despite the campus is relatively smaller compared to the Hongo campus, there are over 400 events and about 10,000 people attending the festival each year. It is one of the biggest campus festival held in Japan. The noteworthy Ms. and Mr. Univ. of Tokyo contest is also one of the events in the Komaba festival.

References

* [http://www.c.u-tokyo.ac.jp/ University of Tokyo, Graduate school of Art and Science]
* [http://www.a103.net/komabasai/58/visitor/ Official Site of Komaba Festival]
* [http://www.ut-life.net/ UT-Life]
* [http://www.undou-kai.com/club/senseki.htm (nihongo|University of Tokyo, Undoukai|東京大学 運動会|Undoukai)]