Blog Article: A recent article on the prestigious scientific journal Nature’s website, dated October 25, delivered a stark message: Japan’s research capabilities no longer align with global standards. This revelation is significant, given Nature’s influence in the scientific community. The report is based on findings from the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology’s think tank, which published the ‘Science and Technology Indicators 2023’ on August 8. The data paints a bleak picture: Japan, once a research powerhouse, now ranks fifth in terms of the number of research papers published and a dismal thirteenth in top-cited papers. This decline is stark compared to Japan’s earlier standing – second...

At the University of Tokyo, a class III science student who missed class due to the novel coronavirus was today (August 19, 2022) sentenced to repeat the year. This is due to the “no” requirement of one credit. Surprised by the impossibility, he asked the teacher for help, but was given a penalty of “17 points,” as if to whip the dead. The students were not convinced, and as early as the 19th, they will file a petition with the Tokyo District Court to suspend the University of Tokyo’s decision to repeat the year. The student is Soudai Sugiura, 20, a second-year student at the University of Tokyo’s College of...

1921 (Taisho 10) Wednesday, November 9 Seijiro Ibaraki (45) has been appointed as the seventh Principal of Tokyo Women’s Higher Normal School, which is the present Ochanomizu University. Seijiro Ibaraki was born on August 19, 1879 as the second son of Misao Ibaraki, a member of the warrior class in Ishikawa Prefecture. She was 45 years old when she assumed the post of principal. I studied at the English Department of Tokyo Imperial University, and the lecturer at that time was Patrick Lafcadio Hearn. After graduating from Imperial University in 1899 (Meiji 32), he became a professor at his hometown’s former Fourth High School (now Kanazawa University). He took over...

1921 (Taisho 10) Saturday, September 17 Baseball interchange between Washington University and Waseda University. Tens of thousands of fans gather at the Totsuka baseball stadium of Waseda University. During the ceremonial first pitch, an airplane operated by Kotaro Oguri dropped six large rubber balls with the flags of Japan and the United States from the sky toward the center of the ground. The audience was very excited by the first production in Japan. Waseda won the game 1-0.

On Friday, June 17, 1921 (Taisho 10), Nagao ARIGA, a famous jurist, died at the age of 60. Ariga was born in 1860 to a family of poets in Osaka and graduated from the department of literature 15 at Tokyo Imperial University in 1882. Later, he went to Europe to study under Stein of the University of Vienna in Austria, and became an expert on international law of war. In 1913, he became a legal advisor to Yuan Shikai, the Provisional President of the Republic of China, and defended the Imperial Movement. As he opposed the 21 Demands to China that Japan submitted, he was in fierce conflict with Takaaki...

1921 (Taisho 10) Sunday, June 5: Completion ceremony of the new school building was held at Hosei University. A new three-story wooden school building was completed on the current Ichigaya campus. The participants included Shinpei GOTO, mayor of Tokyo, Hideo YOKOTA, President of Daishin-in (Predecessor of the Supreme Court of Japan), Enkichi OKI, Minister of Justice, Tokugoro NAKAHASHI, Minister of Education, and Reijiro WAKATSUKI, Vice President of Kenseikai. Hosei University was founded in April 1880 (Meiji year 13) in the Tokyo Law Society/Faculty of Law Department established in Surugadai, Tokyo. The following year it was renamed Tokyo Law School, and in 1883 (Meiji 16) Gustave Boissonade, father of modern Japanese...

1921 (Taisho 10) On Sunday, May 22, the 11 th Japan Academy Awards ceremony was held at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts. Zennosuke TSUJI (Study of the History of Japanese Buddhism) and Gennosuke FUSE (anatomical study of the brain) were rewarded. Hikoshichiro MATSUMOTO (study of starfish) and Kunikazu TAWARA (Research on Japanese swords) received the Imperial Academy Award. Yoshizumi TAWARA (study of puffer toxin) received Duke Katsura Memorial Prize. https://twitter.com/KoichiYoshizuka/status/1331696711530590210 Zennosuke TSUJI, who was famous for his study of Japanese Buddhist history, is also known for reevaluating Okitsugu TANUMA. He fairly evaluated the achievements of Tanuma, who had a strong image as a corrupt politician, and described him as...

1921 (Taisho 10) Saturday, May 14 A preparatory course competition is held at Meiji University, where campus strife continues. In December of the previous year, a dispute arose over the resignation of President Tomosaburo KINOSHITA. Both professors Etsujiro Uehara and Rinpu SASAGAWA were dismissed for instigating the students, and later the university authorities conceded and allowed the two to return to their posts, but the Ministry of Education did not allow them to do so this time. Students will become increasingly opposed to the Ministry of Education. Etsujiro UEHARA, a political scientist, insisted on the theory of sovereignty of the people, which was bold at that time and beyond the...

Friday, April 15, 1921: Christian woman thinker Motoko HANI and her husband, the former editor-in-chief of Hochi Shinbun, Yoshikazu HANI, founded Jiyu Gakuen in Takada-cho, Kitatoshima County, Tokyo Prefecture in order to practice their ideal education based on the spirit of Protestantism. The school was named after the New Testament ‘Gospel of John’ 8: 32 “Truth frees you”. The architect Frank Lloyd Wright, who agreed with the purpose of Jiyu Gakuen, undertook the design of many school buildings together with his disciple Arata ENDO. The central building, whose design was started in January 1921, is decorated with distinctive geometric patterns and still exists today as Jiyu Gakuen Myo-nichikan. At the...

On Friday, April 1, 1921, the innovative curriculum of Hosei University’s preparatory course became a hot topic. Sohei Morita gave a lecture on Natsume Soseki’s “I am a Cat,” which was contemporary literature at the time. Toyoichiro Nogami, the head of the preparatory course, adopted a policy of “free organization and substantive education. He abolished hourly lecturers and made all lecturers full-time. Also, Nihon University is preparing to establish an “Art University” advocating the popularization of the arts and the fostering of critics. Unique lecturers included painters Hyakusui Hirafuku, Hakutei Ishii, and Keiichiro Kume, art historians Seiichi Taki and Yoshinori Onishi, playwright Kaoru Osanai, and writer Kan Kikuchi. At that...