University of Tokyo

Todai, often spelled UTokyo, is the abbreviation for the University of Tokyo, which is a public research institution in Bunkyo, which is situated in Tokyo, Japan. The institution was the first Imperial University, and it was founded in 1877. At the present time, the Japanese government recognises it as a Top Type university as part of its Top Global University Programme.

Over 30,000 students are enrolled at UTokyo, with about 4,200 of those students coming from other countries. The university comprises 10 faculties and 15 graduate schools. In particular, the number of privately supported foreign students, who make up more than 80% of all international students, has grown 1.75 times in the ten years since 2010, and the university is placing a primary emphasis on providing assistance for international students. It has campuses in Hong, Komaba, Kashiwa, Shirokane, and Nakano among its five locations.

It is widely acknowledged as Japan's most renowned and competitive higher education institution. As of the year 2021, the University of Tokyo's graduates, faculty members, and researchers include a total of seventeen prime ministers, eighteen winners of the Nobel Prize, four winners of the Pritzker Award, five astronauts, and a winner of the Fields Medal.

Older government schools for medicine, a variety of traditional academics, and contemporary learning were merged together to become what is now known as the university in 1877 when it was authorised by the Meiji government under its present name. In 1886, it was renamed the Imperial University, and in 1897, when the Imperial University system was established, it was renamed again as Tokyo Imperial University. In September of 1923, an earthquake and the subsequent fires that followed caused around 750,000 volumes of the Imperial University Library to be lost. The Hoshino Library, which had over 10,000 volumes, was one of the book collections that was destroyed. Before becoming a part of the library at the university, the volumes belonged to Hoshino Hisashi and were mostly concerned with the historical and philosophical developments that took place in China.