is a

national National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

research university A research university or a research-intensive university is a university that is committed to research as a central part of its mission. They are "the key sites of Knowledge production modes, knowledge production", along with "intergenerational ...

located in

Tsukuba is a city located in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. As of January 1, 2024, the city had an estimated population of 256,526 in 121,001 households and a population density of 900 persons per km2. The percentage of the population aged over 65 wa ...

, Ibaraki, Japan. The university has 28 college clusters and schools with around 16,500 students (as of 2014). The main

campus covers an area of 258 hectares (636 acres), making it the second largest single campus in Japan. The university has a branch campus in Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, offering graduate programs for working adults in the capital and managing K-12 schools in Tokyo that are attached to the university. Three Nobel Prize laurates have taught at the university,

Leo Esaki Leo Esaki ( ; ; born March 12, 1925) is a Japanese solid-state physicist who shared the 1973 Nobel Prize in Physics with Ivar Giaever and Brian Josephson for his work on quantum tunnelling in semiconductors, which led to his invention of the tu ...

Hideki Shirakawa is a Japanese chemist, engineer, and Professor Emeritus at the University of Tsukuba and Zhejiang University. He is best known for his discovery of conductive polymers. He was co-recipient of the 2000 Nobel Prize in Chemistry jointly with Alan ...

and Sin-Itiro Tomonaga. Apart from them,

Satoshi Ōmura is a Japanese biochemist. He is known for the discovery and development of hundreds of pharmaceuticals originally occurring in microorganisms. In 2015, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly with William C. Campbell f ...

studied as an audit student.

History

The University of Tsukuba can trace its roots back to , a normal school established in 1872 to educate primary and secondary teachers. The school was promoted to a university in 1929, as Tokyo University of Literature and Science (東京文理科大学, ''Tōkyō Bunrika Daigaku''). In 1949, Tokyo University of Education (東京教育大学, ''Tōkyō Kyōiku Daigaku'') was established under the post-war educational system, and most faculties and facilities were transferred to the new university. The old university was closed officially in 1962. When the plan was made to build an entirely new city dedicated to science and research and education in 1963, it was decided that the university was to be relocated to the new city as the hub for the research activities. This plan caused outrage amongst some students, and fierce student protests forced the university to cancel classes for a few months and even the admission process for 1969. Meanwhile, the new university, the University of Tsukuba, was established by the government in 1973, and the first group of students were matriculated at the new campus in

in April 1974. The old university was officially closed in 1978, with most of its assets and faculties transferred to the new university in Tsukuba. In October 2002, the University of Tsukuba merged with the . The School of Library and Information Science and the Graduate School of Library and Information – Media Studies were subsequently established. In April 2024, the university announced that it would open its first overseas campus, housing the School of Transdisciplinary Science and Design, in

Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur (KL), officially the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, is the capital city and a Federal Territories of Malaysia, federal territory of Malaysia. It is the largest city in the country, covering an area of with a census population ...

, Malaysia, starting in September.

Features

The university is primarily focused on STEMM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, Medicine),

physical education Physical education is an academic subject taught in schools worldwide, encompassing Primary education, primary, Secondary education, secondary, and sometimes tertiary education. It is often referred to as Phys. Ed. or PE, and in the United Stat ...

, and related interdisciplinary fields. This focus is reflected by the university's location in the heart of Tsukuba Science City, alongside over 300 other research institutions. The university counts among its faculty three Nobel laureates (two in Physics and one in Chemistry), and over 70 Olympic athletes. It has established interdisciplinary PhD programs in both Human Biology and Empowerment Informatics and the International Institute for Integrative Sleep Medicine, which were created through the

Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology The , also known as MEXT, is one of the eleven ministries of Japan that compose part of the executive branch of the government of Japan. History The Meiji period, Meiji government created the first Ministry of Education in 1871. In January 2001 ...

's competitive funding projects. Its Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences is represented on the national

Coordinating Committee for Earthquake Prediction The Coordinating Committee for Earthquake Prediction (CCEP) (Japanese language, Japanese: 地震予知連絡会, ''Jishin Yochi Renraku-kai'') in Japan was founded in April 1969,Organizations with ties to CCEP
CCEP, accessed 2011-03-19

International education

Their founding philosophy states the University of Tsukuba is "a university which is open to all within and outside Japan." The university is also known for its internationalization efforts. It has won Japanese government funding projects for internationalization of Japanese universities, including the

's "Global 30" Project and the "

Super Global University is a funding project by the Japanese government that began in 2014. The project aims to enhance the globalization of the country's public and private universities so that graduates can "walk into positions of global leadership". The project is so ...

Project" (formally known as "Top Global University Project"). In the Super Global University Project, University of Tsukuba won Type A funding, which is for 13 elite Japanese universities to be ranked in the top 100 in global university rankings by 2023. Their initiative includes expanding the number of courses and degree programs taught in English only, sharing faculty members with partner institutions such as

National Taiwan University National Taiwan University (NTU; zh, t=國立臺灣大學, poj=Kok-li̍p Tâi-oân Tāi-ha̍k, p=, s=) is a National university, national Public university, public research university in Taipei, Taiwan. Founded in 1928 during Taiwan under J ...

University of Bordeaux The University of Bordeaux (, ) is a public research university based in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. It has several campuses in the cities and towns of Bordeaux, Dax, Gradignan, Périgueux, Pessac, and Talence. There are al ...

, and

University of California, Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Irvine, California, United States. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, U ...

to promote education and research collaboration, and establishing so-called "Course Jukebox System" which enables their and partner institutions' students to take partner institutions' courses as if they are at their original institution. In 2004, the university established the Alliance for Research on North Africa (ARENA) as an academic research center with the purpose of promoting comprehensive research concerning the North African Region through integration of humanities and sciences. Since then, ARENA has been expanding its research fields, and the university established a branch office in Tunis, Tunisia in 2006. The University of Tsukuba is also accepting African students through the ABE initiative, which was initiated by Japanese prime minister

Shinzō Abe Shinzo Abe (21 September 1954 – 8 July 2022) was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party ( LDP) from 2006 to 2007 and again from 2012 to 2020. He was the longest-serving pri ...

and is bringing 1,000 African graduate students to Japanese universities in five years from 2014. The University of Tsukuba is planning and leading Japan-Africa Academic Network (JAAN) initiative to bring together all the Japanese universities' resources for Africa and to deepen the academic relationship between Japan and Africa. In May 2008, the

Tokyo International Conference on African Development is a conference held regularly with the objective "to promote high-level policy dialogue between African leaders and development partners." Japan is a co-host of these conferences. Other co-organizers of TICAD are the United Nations Office of t ...

became an opportunity for the

African Development Bank The African Development Bank Group (AfDB, also known as BAD in French) is a multilateral development finance institution, headquartered in Abidjan, Ivory Coast since September 2014. The AfDB is a financial provider to African governments and ...

(AfDB) and universities in Japan to promote partnership on higher education, science and technology.

Donald Kaberuka Donald P. Kaberuka (born 5 October 1951) is a Rwandan economist and was the president of the African Development Bank from September 2005 until September 2015. Early life and education Kaberuka was born in Byumba, Rwanda. He studied at the Uni ...

, the president of the AfDB, and the president of University of Tsukuba signed a memorandum of understanding during the three-day event. In 2009, the University of Tsukuba participated in the

Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization The Southeast Asia Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) is an intergovernmental organization of the eleven Southeast Asian countries, which was formed on 30 November 1965 by the Kingdom of Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailan ...

's (SEAMEO) affiliated member, and it has been cooperating in the development of education in the ASEAN region. The university is a member of AIMS program, which is to promote regional student mobility among the ASEAN and participated countries including Japan. As of August 2015, the university has over 300 international inter-university agreements and 13 overseas offices in 12 countries, located in Brazil, China, Germany, France, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Tunisia, Taiwan, United States, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam. In March 2023, the university announced the establishment of a new international campus in Malaysia, becoming the first Japanese public university to set up a campus outside Japan.

Academic rankings

Research performance

Tsukuba is one of the leading research institutions in Japan. According to

Thomson Reuters Thomson Reuters Corporation ( ) is a Canadian multinational corporation, multinational content-driven technology Conglomerate (company), conglomerate. The company was founded in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and maintains its headquarters at 1 ...

, Tsukuba is the 10th best research institutions among all the universities and non-educational research institutions in Japan. (this ranking includes non-educational institutions) reported that Tsukuba has the 27th highest research standard in Japan in research fundings per researchers in COE Program. In the same article, it's ranked 11th in the quality of education by GP funds per student. It has a good research standard in Economics, as

Research Papers in Economics Research Papers in Economics (RePEc) is a collaborative effort of hundreds of volunteers in many countries to enhance the dissemination of research in economics. The heart of the project is a decentralized database of working papers, preprints, ...

ranked Tsukuba as the eighth best Economics research university in January 2011.

Graduate school rankings

Tsukuba's law school was ranked 19th in 2010 for its passing rate of the Japanese

bar examination A bar examination is an examination administered by the bar association of a jurisdiction that a lawyer must pass in order to be admitted to the bar of that jurisdiction. Australia Administering bar exams is the responsibility of the bar associat ...

Eduniversal Eduniversal is a university ranking business by the French consulting company and rating agency ''SMBG'' specialized in Higher Education. Founded in 1994, one of the main goals of Eduniversal is to provide a tool, for students all around the world ...

ranked Tsukuba as seventh in the rankings of "Excellent Business Schools nationally strong and/or with continental links" in Japan.

Alumni rankings

According to the Weekly Economist's 2010 rankings, graduates from Tsukuba have the 64th best employment rate in 400 major companies in Japan. By contrast, the alumni of Tsukuba's average salary is very high with the 8th best in Japan, according to PRESIDENT, Inc.

Popularity and selectivity

The University of Tsukuba is regarded as a selective university, with the selectivity for its undergraduate programmes usually ranked amongst the top 20 in the country.

Organization

Undergraduate schools and colleges

*School of Humanities and Culture, with separate colleges for the humanities, for comparative culture and for Japanese language and culture. *School of Social and International Studies, including colleges for social sciences and for international studies. *School of Human Sciences, with separate colleges for education, for psychology and for disability sciences. *School of Life and Environmental Sciences, incorporating colleges for biological sciences, for agro-biological resources and for geoscience. *School of Science and Engineering, with colleges for mathematics, physics, chemistry, engineering sciences and engineering systems, as well as for policy and planning sciences. *School of Informatics, incorporating separate colleges for information sciences; for media arts, science and technology; and for knowledge and library sciences. *School of Medicine and Medical Sciences, including schools of medicine, nursing nd medical sciences. *School of Health and Physical Education. *School of Art and Design.

Graduate schools and programs

*Master's Program in Education **School Leadership and Professional Development **Secondary Education *Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences **Doctoral Program in Philosophy **Doctoral Program in History and Anthropology **Doctoral Program in Literature and Linguistics **Master's Program in Modern Languages and Cultures **Doctoral Program in Modern Languages and Cultures **Master's Program in International Public Policy **Doctoral Program in International Public Policy **Master's Program in Economics **Doctoral Program in Economics **Master's Program in Law **Doctoral Program in Law **Master's Program in International Area Studies **Doctoral Program in International and Advanced Japanese Studies *Graduate School of Business Sciences (programs for working individuals) **Master's Program in Systems Management **Master's Program in Advanced Studies of Business Law **Doctoral Program in Systems Management and Business Law **Law School Program **MBA Program in International Business *Graduate School of Pure and Applied Sciences **Master's Program in Mathematics **Doctoral Program in Mathematics **Master's Program in Physics **Doctoral Program in Physics **Master's Program in Chemistry **Doctoral Program in Chemistry **Doctoral Program in Nano-Science and Nano-Technology **Master's Program in Applied Physics **Doctoral Program in Applied Physics **Master's Program in Materials Science **Doctoral Program in Materials Science **Doctoral Program in Materials Sciences and Technology *Graduate School of Systems and Information Engineering **Master's Program in Policy and Planning Sciences **Master's Program in Service Engineering **Doctoral Program in Policy and Planning Sciences **Master's Program in Risk Engineering **Doctoral Program in Risk Engineering **Master's Program in Computer Science **Doctoral Program in Computer Science **Master's Program in Intelligent Interaction Technologies **Doctoral Program in Intelligent Interaction Technologies **Master's Program in Engineering Mechanics and Energy **Doctoral Program in Engineering Mechanics and Energy **Master's Program in Social Systems Engineering **Master's Program in Business Administration and Public Policy **Doctoral Program in Social Systems and Management *Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences **Doctoral Program in Integrative Environment and Biomass Sciences **Master's Program in Geosciences **Doctoral Program in Geoenvironmental Sciences **Doctoral Program in Earth Evolution Sciences **Master's Program in Biological Sciences **Doctoral Program in Biological Sciences **Master's Program in Agro-bioresources Science and Technology **Doctoral Program in Appropriate Technology and Sciences for Sustainable Development **Doctoral Program in Biosphere Resource Science and Technology **Doctoral Program in Life Sciences and Bioengineering **Doctoral Program in Bioindustrial Sciences **Master's Program in Environmental Sciences **Doctoral Program in Sustainable Environmental Studies **Doctoral Program in Advanced Agricultural Technology and Sciences *Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Sciences **Master's Program in Medical Sciences (Tokyo Campus (evening programs for working adults)) **Master's Program in Sports and Health Promotion **Master's Program in Education Sciences **Doctoral Program in Education **Doctoral Program in School Education **Master's Program in Psychology **Doctoral Program in Psychology **Master's Program in Disability Sciences **Doctoral Program in Disability Sciences **Master's Program in Lifespan Development (Tokyo Campus (evening programs for working adults)) **Doctoral Program in Lifespan Developmental Sciences (Tokyo Campus (evening programs for working adults)) **Master's Program in Kansei, Behavioral and Brain Sciences **Doctoral Program in Kansei, Behavioral and Brain Sciences **Master's Program in Nursing Sciences **Doctoral Program in Nursing Sciences **Master's Program in Health and Sport Sciences **Doctoral Program in Physical Education, Health and Sport Sciences **Master's Program in Art and Design **Doctoral Program in Art and Design **Master's Program in World Heritage Studies **Doctoral Program in World Cultural Heritage Studies **Doctoral Program in Human Care Science **Doctoral Program in Sports Medicine **Doctoral Program in Coaching Science **Doctoral Program in Biomedical Sciences **Doctoral Program in Clinical Sciences *Graduate School of Library, Information and Media Studies **Master's Program in Library, Information and Media Studies **Doctoral Program in Library, Information and Media Studies *School of Integrative and Global Majors (SIGMA) **PhD Program in Human Biology **PhD Program in Empowerment Informatics **Master's Program in Life Science Innovation **Doctoral Program in Life Science Innovation

Research centers

*Center for Computational Sciences *Shimoda Marine Research Center *Gene Research Center *Plasma Research Center *University's inter-department education research institutes (Research) **Life Science Center of Tsukuba Advanced Research Alliance (Life Science Center of TARA) **International Institute for Integrative Sleep Medicine (WPI-IIIS) **Agricultural and Forestry Research Center **Terrestrial Environment Research Center **Laboratory Animal Resource Center **Sugadaira Montane Research Center **Research Center for University Studies **Proton Medical Research Center **Tsukuba Industrial Liaison and Cooperative Research Center **Center for Research on International Cooperation in Educational Development **Research Center for Knowledge Communities **Tsukuba Research Center for Interdisciplinary Materials Science **Special Needs Education Research Center **The Alliance for Research on North Africa **Academic Computing and Communications Center **Research Facility Center for Science and Technology **Radioisotope Center **Tsukuba Critical Path Research and Education Integrated Leading Center **Center for Cybernics Research *University's inter-department education research institutes (student support) **Foreign Language Center **Sport and Physical Education Center **International Student Center **Admission Center **University Health Center

University libraries

* Central Library (Central Area, Tsukuba Campus) * Art and Physical Education Library (South Area, Tsukuba Campus) * Medical Library (West Area, Tsukuba Campus) * Library on Library and Information Science (Kasuga Area, Tsukuba Campus) * Otsuka Library (Tokyo Bunkyo School Building)

University hospital

* University of Tsukuba Hospital (Tsukuba Campus)

Laboratory schools

*Education Bureau of the Laboratory Schools *Elementary School, University of Tsukuba *Junior High School at Otsuka *Junior High School at Komaba *Senior High School at Otsuka *Senior High School at Komaba *Senior High School at Sakado *Special Needs Education School for the Visually Impaired *Special Needs Education School for the Deaf *Special Needs Education School for the Mentally Challenged *Special Needs Education School for the Physically Challenged *Special Needs Education School for Children with Autism

Notable alumni

Politicians

Kiyoko Ono was a Japanese politician and gymnast. She competed at the 1960 and 1964 Olympics and won a team bronze medal in 1964. Early life Ono was born on 4 February 1936. Her father died when she was three months old. In 1958, she graduated from the ...

– (70th chair of National Public Safety Commission) * Stergomena Tax – 4th executive secretary of the

Southern African Development Community The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is an inter-governmental organization headquartered in Gaborone, Botswana. Goals The SADC's goal is to further regional socio-economic cooperation and integration as well as political and se ...

Academics

Yukihiro Matsumoto , also known as Matz, is a Japanese computer scientist and software programmer best known as the chief designer of the Ruby programming language and its original reference implementation, Matz's Ruby Interpreter (MRI). , Matsumoto is the Ch ...

–

free software Free software, libre software, libreware sometimes known as freedom-respecting software is computer software distributed open-source license, under terms that allow users to run the software for any purpose as well as to study, change, distribut ...

programmer A programmer, computer programmer or coder is an author of computer source code someone with skill in computer programming. The professional titles Software development, ''software developer'' and Software engineering, ''software engineer' ...

, chief designer of the

Ruby programming language Ruby is a general-purpose programming language. It was designed with an emphasis on programming productivity and simplicity. In Ruby, everything is an object, including primitive data types. It was developed in the mid-1990s by Yukihiro "Mat ...

John Maeda John Maeda (born 1966) is a Vice President of Design and Artificial Intelligence at Microsoft. He is an American technologist and designer whose work explores where business, design, and technology merge to make space for the "humanist techno ...

– president of the

Rhode Island School of Design The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD , pronounced "Riz-D") is a private art and design school in Providence, Rhode Island. The school was founded as a coeducational institution in 1877 by Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf, who sought to increase th ...

Hiromichi Kataura is a Japanese scientist known for his work on synthesis and characterization of single-wall and double-wall carbon nanotubes and on encapsulation of water, fullerenes and other organic molecules into carbon nanotubes. Kataura is the leader of s ...

– synthesis and characterization of single-wall and double-wall

carbon nanotubes A carbon nanotube (CNT) is a tube made of carbon with a diameter in the nanometre range (nanoscale). They are one of the allotropes of carbon. Two broad classes of carbon nanotubes are recognized: * ''Single-walled carbon nanotubes'' (''SWC ...

Eiji Otsuka Eiji is a common masculine Japanese given name. Written forms Eiji can be written using different kanji characters and can mean: *, "prosperity, peace" *, "great, peace" *, "great, second" *, "eternity, next" The name can also be written in h ...

–

social critic Social criticism is a form of academic or journalistic criticism focusing on social issues in contemporary society, in respect to perceived injustices and power relations in general. Social criticism of the Enlightenment The origin of modern ...

anthropologist An anthropologist is a scientist engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropologists study aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms, values ...

and novelist. Professor at

International Research Center for Japanese Studies The , or Nichibunken (日文研), is an inter-university research institute in Kyoto. Along with the National Institute of Japanese Literature, the National Museum of Japanese History, and the National Museum of Ethnology (Japan), National Museum ...

, Kyoto *

Moi Meng Ling Sherry Moi Meng Ling is a Malaysian virologist, currently serving as a professor at the Graduate School of Medicine, the University of Tokyo. Her research focuses on innate immune system to mosquito-borne virus infection and field epidemiology. ...

– professor, the

University of Tokyo The University of Tokyo (, abbreviated as in Japanese and UTokyo in English) 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 ins ...

, virologist

Businessmen

Kōta Matsuda is a Japanese entrepreneur, enterprise manager, and politician from Tokyo. Your Party was a Japanese political party to which Kota Matsuda belonged until its disbanding in December 2014. He founded The Assembly to Energize Japan in January 201 ...

– CEO of Tully's Coffee Japan *

– the chief designer of the

Ruby Ruby is a pinkish-red-to-blood-red-colored gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum ( aluminium oxide). Ruby is one of the most popular traditional jewelry gems and is very durable. Other varieties of gem-quality corundum are called sapph ...

programming language A programming language is a system of notation for writing computer programs. Programming languages are described in terms of their Syntax (programming languages), syntax (form) and semantics (computer science), semantics (meaning), usually def ...

* Akira Morikawa – CEO of

LINE Corporation was a Japanese internet company. It was a subsidiary of Z Holdings, a joint venture between SoftBank Group and Naver Corporation. It was established in 2000 as the Japanese subsidiary of South Korean NHN Corporation's online game community si ...

* Yoshiyuki Sankai – founder and CEO of Cyberdyne

Athletes

Takanori Nagase Takanori Nagase (; born 14 October 1993) is a Japanese judoka. Nagase is a double Olympic champion at under 81 kg, winning gold in both 2020 (2021) and 2024. He won bronze in 2016. His other achievements include the Universiade in Kazan ...

– Judo, two times Olympic gold medalist (2020, 2024), Olympic bronze medalist (2016) *

Yudai Baba is a Japanese professional basketball player for Nagasaki Velca of the B.League. He played college basketball for the University of Tsukuba. Baba has been a member of the Japan men's national basketball team. High school career Baba played a ...

– basketball player *

Sawao Kato Sawao (written: 沢男 or さわお in hiragana) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese gymnast *, Japanese musician {{given name Japanese masculine given names Masculine given names ...

– Gymnastics, 8 Olympic gold medalist *

Go Oiwa Go, GO, G.O., or Go! may refer to: Arts and entertainment Games and sport * Go (game), a board game for two players * '' Travel Go'' (formerly ''Go – The International Travel Game''), a game based on world travel * Go, the starting position ...

–

Football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player and manager *

Kaoru Mitoma is a Japanese professional footballer who plays as a left winger for club Brighton & Hove Albion and the Japan national team. He is best known for his dribbling ability. Club career Early years Born in Hita, Ōita, Mitoma eventually moved ...

–

player *

Shogo Taniguchi Shogo, Shōgo, Shohgo or Shougo (written: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , or ) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese baseball player *, Japanese professional baseball player *, Japanese politician * ...

–

player *

Kenta Hasegawa is a Japanese professional football manager and former player who is the manager of club of Nagoya Grampus. Club career Hasegawa was educated at and played for Shimizu Higashi High School. He won the national high school championship with hi ...

–

player and manager *

Masami Ihara is a Japanese former footballer and manager. He was most recently the manager of J1 League club Kashiwa Reysol. A defender, Ihara was captain of the Japan national team for more than a decade in the 1990s, together with striker Kazuyoshi Miur ...

–

player *

Masashi Nakayama , nicknamed "Gon" during his playing career, is a Japanese professional football manager and former player. He was the J.League Most Valuable Player in 1998, J.League Top Scorer in 1998 and 2000, and J.League Best XI in 1997, 1998, 2000, 20 ...

–

player *

Sōta Hirayama is a former Japanese Association football, football player. He played for Japan national football team, Japan national team. Club career As a teenager, Hirayama attended Kunimi High School in Nagasaki Prefecture. There, he won the All Japan Hig ...

(dropout) –

player *

Saki Kumagai is a Japanese association football, footballer who plays as a midfielder or defender (association football), defender for Women's Super League, Women's Super League club London City Lionesses and captains the Japan women's national football team ...

–

player *

Toshiya Fujita is a Japanese former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Fujita played for Júbilo Iwata, Utrecht, Nagoya Grampus, Roasso Kumamoto and JEF United Chiba. He won five major titles during his time at Júbilo. He also gained 24 ca ...

–

player *

Takayoshi Yoshioka was a Japanese sprinter who in 1935 jointly held the 100 m world record at 10.3 seconds. Four other men had clocked 10.3 s in 1935 or earlier, and Takayoshi was the only Asian person among them. He competed in various sprint events at the 1932 a ...

– track and field athlete (Tokyo University of Education) *

Miwako Motoyoshi is a Japanese former synchronized swimmer who competed in the 1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held fr ...

–

Synchronized swimming Synchronized swimming (in British English, synchronised swimming), also known as artistic swimming, is a sport where swimmers perform a synchronized choreographed routine, accompanied by music. The sport is governed internationally by World A ...

, Olympic bronze medalist *

Toshinobu Kawai is a Japanese short-track speed skater, who won a bronze medal in the 5000 m relay at the 1992 Winter Olympics together with teammates Yuichi Akasaka, Tatsuyoshi Ishihara and Tsutomu Kawasaki. Before 1992, he won two gold medals in the World ...

–

Short track speed skating Short-track speed skating is a form of competitive ice skating, ice speed skating. In competitions, multiple skaters (typically between four and six) skate on an oval ice track with a length of . The rink itself is long by wide, which is the s ...

, Olympic bronze medalist *

Hirotaka Okada is a retired judoka who competed in the 78 kg and 86 kg divisions. Biography Okada began judo in primary school, and won the inter-highschool light heavyweight judo tournament in 1984. While attending the University of Tsukuba, he w ...

– Judo, Olympic bronze medalist *

Yoko Tanabe is a Japanese retired judoka. Tanabe won two Olympic silver medals in the half-heavyweight (72 kg) division, in 1992 and 1996. She also won a bronze medal in the 72 kg at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, where women's judo was he ...

– Judo, Olympic silver medalist * Noriko Narazaki – Judo, Olympic silver and bronze medalist *

Ayumi Tanimoto born 4 August 1981, in Anjo, Aichi, Anjo, Aichi Prefecture, Aichi, is a Japanese judoka. She was coached by Toshihiko Koga, who is a gold medalist at the 1992 Summer Olympics, Barcelona Olympics and a silver medalist at the 1996 Summer Olympic ...

– Judo, Olympic gold medalist *

Midori Shintani is a female Japanese judoka. Shintani won a gold medal at the women's open category of the 2005 World Judo Championships in Cairo. Shintani won a silver medal at the +78 kg category of the 2001 World Judo Championships in Munich ...

– Judo, World judo championship gold medalist *

Naoki Murata was an 8th Dan (rank), dan Japanese judoka and author. He has written many books about judo. He was also the curator of the Kodokan Judo Museum in Tokyo. Biography Murata was born in Tokorozawa, Saitama in 1949. He studied at the Faculty of P ...

– Judo, 7th dan

judoka is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, combat sport, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyc ...

, author, curator of the

Kodokan The , or ''Kōdōkan'' (講道館), is the headquarters of the worldwide judo community. The ''kōdōkan'' was founded in 1882 by Kanō Jigorō, the founder of judo, and is now an eight-story building in Tokyo. Etymology Literally, ''kō'' ...

Judo Museum * Kentaro Takahashi – Volleyball Player

Entertainers

Riyoko Ikeda is a Japanese manga artist and singer. She is included in the Year 24 Group by some critics, journalists, and academics, although her inclusion has been debated due to a focus more on epic stories than the internal psychology of those mangaka. ...

–

Manga artist A manga artist, also known as a mangaka (), is a Cartoonist, comic artist who writes and/or illustrates manga. Most manga artists study at an art college or manga school or take on an apprenticeship with another artist before entering the indus ...

(Tokyo University of Education/dropout) *

Ryōko Nagata is a freelance Japanese voice actress. Filmography Anime Movies OVA/ONA Video games Dubbing roles Ashley Tisdale Other Live-action Animation References External linksRyōko Nagata
at Ryu's Seiyuu Infos * 1975 births L ...

– Voice actor *

Miki Itō is a Japanese voice actress and narrator who is affiliated with the Office Osawa () agency.Doi, Hitoshi"Itou Miki" ''Seiyuu Database''. January 3, 2011. Retrieved January 4, 2011. Biography She graduated from the University of Tsukuba. She be ...

– Voice actor *

Shunichi Miyamoto is a Japanese musical artist and voice actor. He is noted for having performed several songs for the anime adaptation of '' D.N.Angel''. Biography Early life and music interest Miyamoto started playing the piano at the age of four. Later, he ...

– Musician

Artists and writers

Ay-O Takao Iijima (born May 19, 1931), better known by his art name Ay-O (靉嘔 ''Ai Ō''), is a Japanese avant-garde visual and performance artist who has been associated with Fluxus since its international beginnings in the 1960s. Biography Earl ...

– Japanese conceptual artist *

Tian Han Tian Han ( zh, 田汉; 12 March 1898 – 10 December 1968), formerly romanized as T'ien Han, was a Chinese drama activist, playwright, a leader of revolutionary music and films, as well as a translator and poet. He emerged at the time of the ...

– Chinese playwright *

Toshio Iwai is a Japanese interactive media and Installation art, installation artist who has also created a number of commercial video games. In addition he has worked in television, music performance, museum design and digital musical instrument design. ...

– Media artist and game designer

Controversies

The University of Tsukuba has been embroiled in a number of controversies during its relatively short existence. According to

Debito Arudou is an American-born Japanese writer, blogger, and human rights activist. He was born in the United States and became a naturalized Japanese citizen in 2000. Arudou has since left Japan after living in the country for over 20 years. Backgrou ...

, the university's dealings with foreign staff members has proven particularly controversial. Arudou notes that in 1985 the university decided to terminate the contracts of foreign teaching staff resulting in litigation being brought against the institution. An account of the university's poor treatment of and breaking of contractual obligations with foreign staff is also included in Ivan Hall's ''Cartels of the Mind''. On 12 July 1991, the university became the site of a murder when the Japanese translator of

Salman Rushdie Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie ( ; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British and American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern wor ...

's ''

The Satanic Verses ''The Satanic Verses'' is the fourth novel from the Indian-British writer Salman Rushdie. First published in September 1988, the book was inspired by the life of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. As with his previous books, Rushdie used magical re ...

,''

Hitoshi Igarashi was a Japanese scholar of Arabic and Persian literature and history and the Japanese translator of Salman Rushdie's novel '' The Satanic Verses''. He was murdered in the wake of fatwas issued by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini of Iran – who, by t ...

, was killed in the context of the

fatwa A fatwa (; ; ; ) is a legal ruling on a point of Islamic law (sharia) given by a qualified Islamic jurist ('' faqih'') in response to a question posed by a private individual, judge or government. A jurist issuing fatwas is called a ''mufti'', ...

s initiated by Ayatollah

Ruhollah Khomeini Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini (17 May 1900 or 24 September 19023 June 1989) was an Iranian revolutionary, politician, political theorist, and religious leader. He was the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the main leader of the Iranian ...

following the book's publication. Igarashi's murder case was closed in 2006 with no suspects having been brought to trial. Between 2019 and 2021, a number of controversies revolving around the university's president Kyosuke Nagata came to light. Under Nagata's leadership the university became the first institution of higher education to receive large scale funding from the Ministry of Defense in December 2019. According to Alexandra Sakaki and Sebastian Maslow 'Illustrating a lack of consensus within the Japanese academic community...the university's official decision has triggered internal backlash and fierce criticism from academic and civic groups.' Indeed, the decision was heavily criticized by both the Science Council of Japan and Japanese academics. Critics were particularly dismayed by the fact that this marked a complete u-turn in university policy – only one year earlier in December 2018, the university had issued a policy statement against military research on campus. The university met controversy again in 2020 when Nagata was re-elected as its president despite losing the faculty's ballot by almost two-thirds of the vote. Additionally, the president's selection committee decided to scrap limits on the president's term of office allowing Nagata to remain in charge indefinitely. This created backlash among academic staff resulting in the genesis of a campaign against Nagata's presidency. In 2021, journalists discovered discrepancies in the number of international students that the university had reported to the

Times Higher Education ''Times Higher Education'' (''THE''), formerly ''The Times Higher Education Supplement'' (''The THES''), is a British magazine reporting specifically on news and issues related to higher education. Ownership TPG Capital acquired TSL Education ...

World University Rankings and Japanese University Rankings. The 2021 world rankings claimed 20% of the student body were international students positioning the university as one of the most diverse higher education institutions in the country, however, the Japanese rankings claimed that only 12.6% of the student body were international students. As a result, Times Higher Education launched an investigation and advised the university on its submission of data in the future. The erroneous data was also submitted to the government when the university applied for the status of "

Designated National University A is a corporate body (legal entity) established under the provisions of the ''National University Corporation Act'' (2003) for the purpose of establishing a national university in Japan. History As part of promoting the reform of Japanese univ ...

" (指定国立大学) in 2020. As such, the matter was discussed in the National Diet on 21 April 2021. Critics have suggested that the university is attempting to circumvent its short comings in research which negatively affects its ranking by falsifying data.

Partner institution

Malaysia

University of Malaya The Universiti Malaya (lit 'University of Malaya'; abbreviated UM) is a public university, public research university located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It is the oldest Malaysian institution of higher education, and was the only university in ...

University Sains Malaysia Universiti Sains Malaysia ( 'University of Science Malaysia'; abbreviated as USM) is a public research university in Malaysia. Founded on 1 June 1969 as a statutory body with its own constitution, it is the oldest institute of higher learning ...

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia University of Technology Malaysia (UTM) () is a Malaysian public research-intensive university ranked 188th in the world by QS University rankings. Its medium of instruction is English. Campuses UTM has three campuses – the main campus is in ...

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia The National University of Malaysia (, abbreviated as UKM) is a public research university located in Bandar Baru Bangi, Hulu Langat District, Selangor, Malaysia. Its teaching hospital, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre (UKMMC), ...

Universiti Putra Malaysia University of Putra Malaysia ( Malay: ''Universiti Putra Malaysia''), abbreviated as UPM, is a Malaysian public research university located in Serdang, Selangor. Formerly it was named Universiti Pertanian Malaysia (Agricultural University of ...

Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (abbreviated as UTAR; ) is a not-for-profit private research university in Malaysia. UTAR ranked among top 100 in the Times Higher Education Asia University Rankings 2018 and top 600 in the Times Higher Educatio ...

Universiti Utara Malaysia Universiti Utara Malaysia (literally meaning Northern University of Malaysia, abbreviated as UUM or UNIUTAMA) is a public management university in Sintok, Kedah, Malaysia. It also has a branch campus in Kuala Lumpur. Its main campus, which is ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tsukuba, University of Japanese national universities Tsukuba, Ibaraki 1872 establishments in Japan Super Global Universities Universities and colleges established in 1872