Hitotsubashi University

Hitotsubashi University

一橋大学
Motto	Captains of Industry
Type	Public (National)
Established	1920 (Origins 1875)
President	Susumu Yamauchi
Academic staff	630
Undergraduates	4,500
Postgraduates	2,100
Location	Kunitachi, Tokyo, Japan
Campus	Urban
Colors	Crimson Red (DIC-2489)
Mascot	None
Website	hit-u.ac.jp

Hitotsubashi University (一橋大学 Hitotsubashi daigaku) is a national university specialised in the social sciences in Tokyo, Japan. The university has campuses in Kunitachi, Kodaira, and Kanda.

Hitotsubashi is considered one of the most prestigious universities and the best in economics and commerce related subjects in Japan, consistently ranking amongst the top universities in Japanese university rankings.^[1][2] It was ranked 25th in the world in 2011 by Mines ParisTech: Professional Ranking World Universities.^[3]

Hitotsubashi has strong relationships with overseas universities. There are about 590 international students and 450 researchers from abroad under academic exchange agreements with 83 universities and research institutions, including University of Chicago, the University of Oxford and the University of California.

The university's symbol is inspired by Mercury, Roman mythology's god of commerce.^[4]

History

When founded by Arinori Mori in 1875, Hitotsubashi was called the Institute for Business Training (商法講習所|Shōhō Kōshujo), where it nurtured businessmen to modernize Japan after the collapse of the feudal Tokugawa Shōgunate. There were talks about a merger with The University of Tokyo, but alumni and students objected—the merger was not fulfilled. This is known as the "Shinyu Incident".^[5]

From the university web page: "For 130 years Hitotsubashi graduates have played leading roles in Japanese business, hence the university's motto 'captains of industry.' Today, our former students are also prominent in finance, government, politics and the media. The quality of our research has been recognized internationally, and Hitotsubashi scholars maintain strong ties to industry and government. Hitotsubashi is an excellent base for visiting researchers, offering a well-stocked library, a beautiful campus (and in the case of ICS a location in the heart of Tokyo), and a friendly atmosphere."

• 1875: Arinori Mori established Institute for Business Training (商法講習所|Shōhō Kōshūjo) at Ginza-owarichō, Tokyo.
• 1884: became a national school under the direct supervision of the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce of Japan, and changed its name to the Tokyo Commercial School (東京商業学校|Tokyo Shōgyō Gakkō).
• 1885: came under the control of the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture of Japan, and absorbed the Tokyo Foreign Language School. The school then relocated to the site of the latter institution in an education district called Hitotsubashi, Tokyo in the vicinity of the Imperial Palace.
• 1887: the status of the Tokyo Commercial School was raised to that of the Higher Commercial School (高等商業学校|Kōtō Shōgyō Gakkō).
• 1897: established affiliated institutions for foreign-language education.
• 1899: separated affiliated institutions for foreign-language education as Tokyo School of Foreign Languages (now Tokyo University of Foreign Studies).
• 1902: changed its name to the Tokyo Higher Commercial School (東京高等商業学校| Tōkyō Kōtō Shōgyō Gakkō) due to the establishment of another such school in Kansai district (now Kobe University).
• 1920: raised to and became the Tokyo College of Commerce (東京商科大学| Tōkyō Syōka Daigaku).
• 1927: moved to Kunitachi and Kodaira, Tokyo, its present location, on account of the Great Kanto earthquake.
• 1944: changed its name to the Tokyo College of Industry (東京産業大学| Tōkyō Sangyō Daigaku) under the order of the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture of Japan.
• 1947: changed its name back to the Tokyo College of Commerce (東京商科大学| Tōkyō Syōka Daigaku).
• 1949: adopted the new system and the name of Hitotsubashi University (一橋大学| Hitotsubashi Daigaku) through a student ballot, when the American education system was introduced as part of the postwar education reforms, and established Faculties of Commerce, Economics, and Law & Social Sciences.
• 1951: separated Faculty of Law & Social Sciences into Faculty of Law and Faculty of Social Science.
• 1996: established the Graduate School of Language and Society.
• 1998: established the Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy (ICS).
• 2004: established Law School due to the introduction of Law School system in Japan.
• 2005: established School of International and Public Policy.

Faculties and graduate schools

Kanematsu auditorium on the Kunitachi Campus

Hitotsubashi University has about 4,500 undergraduate and 2,100 postgraduate students with some 630 faculty members.

Undergraduate programs

• Commerce (275)
• Economics (275)
• Law (175)
• Social Sciences (235)

Graduate programs

• Commerce (Master Program: 108, Doctor Program: 30)
• Economics (Master Program: 70, Doctor Program: 30)
• Law (Master Program: 15, Doctor Program: 26 Juris Doctor Program: 100)
• Social Sciences (Master Program: 87, Doctor Program: 44)
• Language and Society (Master Program: 49, Doctor Program: 21)
• International Corporate Strategy (ICS) (including MBA Program)
• International and Public Policy (55)

Parentheses show the numbers of admitted students per year.^[6]

Research institutes and centers

Library on the Kunitachi Campus

• Institute of Economic Research
  • Research Center for Information and Statistics of Social Science
  • Center for Economic Institutions^[7]
  • Center for Intergenerational Studies^[8]
• Research and Development Center for Higher Education
• Information and Communication Technology Center
• Center for Student Exchange^[9]
• International Joint Research Center
• Institute of Innovation Research^[10]
• Center for Historical Social Science Literature^[11]

Academic exchange agreements overseas

As of 2007, Hitotsubashi University had academic exchange agreements with 84 overseas universities and research institutions, including those between departments and departments, as follows:^[12]

United Nations United Nations University  European Union European University Institute  China Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Tsinghua University, School of Humanities and Social Sciences Peking University Renmin University of China Wuhan University Nankai University Beijing University of International Business and Economics Shanghai University of Finance and Economics Dongbei University of Finance and Economics Sichuan University Jilin University  Hong Kong University of Hong Kong Chinese University of Hong Kong  South Korea Seoul National University Pusan National University, College of Law Sogang University Sungkyunkwan University  Singapore National University of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy Singapore Management University  Thailand Thammasat University National Institute of Development Administration  Taiwan National Chengchi University (National University of Governance) National Taiwan University, College of Law National Taipei University, College of Law  Turkey Ankara University  Indonesia Ministry of Finance of Indonesia  Bangladesh University of Dhaka  India Institute of Economic Growth National Institute of Public Finance and Policy  Sri Lanka University of Colombo, Faculty of Arts  United Kingdom University of Oxford, St Antony's College, Oxford University of London, London School of Economics (LSE) University of Birmingham University of London, University College London University of York University of Essex University of London, London Business School University of Warwick, Business School University of Lancaster, Management School University of London, Department of Economics, School of Oriental and African Studies University of Bristol, Faculty of Social Sciences and Law  Italy University of Trento Bocconi University  Austria University of Vienna, Faculty of Human Science

Belgium Université catholique de Louvain University of Antwerp, Faculty of Applied Economics Sciences  Netherlands Erasmus University Rotterdam  France HEC School of Management University of Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris École des hautes études en sciences sociales  Germany University of Mannheim University of Osnabrück University of Augsburg University of Cologne, Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences University of Heidelberg   Switzerland University of St. Gallen  Sweden Stockholm School of Economics  Denmark Aarhus university  Russia Russian Academy of Sciences, Central Economic Mathematical Institute CEMI  Hungary Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Economics  Canada McGill University York University University of British Columbia  United States University of Pennsylvania University of Chicago University of California MIT Sloan School of Management University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business Claremont Graduate University, Peter F. Drucker and Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management University of Virginia, Darden Graduate School of Business Administration University of California, Los Angeles, Anderson School of Management University of Hawaii, College of Business Administration Babson College  Mexico El Colegio de México  Australia Australian National University University of Melbourne Monash University University of Queensland  New Zealand University of Auckland  United Arab Emirates Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT)  Egypt American University in Cairo Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics, Egypt  Uganda Makerere University  Tanzania University of Dar es Salaam, Faculty of Arts and Social Science

Academic rankings

University rankings (overall)

Toyo Keizai National[13]	General	7
WE National[14]	Employment	1
NBP Greater Tokyo[15][16]	Reputation	5
Shimano National[17]	Selectivity	SA
ENSMP World[18]	Alumni	25

University rankings (by subject)

Social Sciences & Humanities
LAW
Asahi National[19]	Research	7
BE Success National[20]	Qualification	8
BE Pass rate National[21]	Qualification	2
ECONOMICS
RePec National[22]	Research	5
BUSINESS & MANAGEMENT
Eduni MBA National[23]	General	3
Eduni MBA World[24]	General	100
CPA Success National[25]	Qualification	6

Hitotsubashi University is considered as one of the most prestigious universities in Japan, consistently ranking amongst the top universities in Japanese university rankings. It is one of the highest ranked national universities that is not one of the National Seven Universities.

Hitotsubashi is a specialized institution only in social science, thus it is not as well known as other big universities such as University of Tokyo and Kyoto University. Although it has only social science departments and the place in the university rankings is always underrated, the reputation is very high. Consequently, its outstanding position in Japan can be seen in the several rankings below.

General rankings

The university was ranked 7th out of 181 major universities in 2011 in the ranking called "Truly strong universities (本当に強い大学)" by Toyo Keizai.^[26] In this ranking, Hitotsubashi is 1st in average graduate salary.

According to QS World University Rankings, Hitotsubashi was ranked 314th, 314th, 420th, 378th and 365th in the world during 2005–2009. It has been ranked 114th, 101st, 99th and 178th during 2007–2010 in its social science ranking.^[27]

Research performance

The Weekly Diamond reported that Hitotsubashi has the 4th highest research standard in Japan in research funding per researcher in COE Program.^[28] In the same article, it is ranked seventh in quality of education by GP funds per student.

The economics department especially has a high research standard. According to the Asahi Shimbun, Hitotsubashi was ranked 4th in Japan in economic research during 2005-2009.^[29] More recently, Repec in January 2011 ranked Hitotsubashi's Economic Department as Japan's 5th best economic research university.^[30] Currently three researchers in Hitotsubashi are listed as top 10% economists in its world economist rankings.^[31] Hitotsubashi has provided seven presidents of the Japanese Economic Association in its 42-year history; this number is the second largest.^[32]

Asahi Shimbun summarized the amount of academic papers in Japanese major legal journals by university, and Hitotsubashi was ranked 7th during 2005–2009.

Graduate school rankings

Hitotsubashi Law School is considered as one of top law schools in Japan, as it was ranked No. 1 in the passing rate of Japanese Bar Examination in 2006, 2008 and 2009.^[33]

Hitotsubashi Business School is ranked 2nd in Japan by Nikkei Shimbun.^[34] Eduniversal ranked Japanese business schools and Hitotsubashi was ranked 3rd in Japan (100th in the world).^[35] In this ranking, Hitotsubashi is one of three Japanese business schools categorized in "Universal business schools with major international influence". It is one of the few Japanese business schools teaching in English.

Alumni rankings

Hitotsubashi alumni are distinctively successful in Japanese industries such as shown below.

According to the Weekly Economist 2010 rankings and the President's article on October 16, 2006, graduates from Hitotsubashi have the best employment rate in 400 major companies; the average graduate salary is the second best in Japan.^[36][37] Mines ParisTech : Professional Ranking World Universities ranks Hitotsubashi University as 25th in the world in 2011 in the number of alumni listed among CEOs in the 500 largest worldwide companies, although Hitotsubashi is small compared to other Japanese universities in the ranks.^[3]

The university is ranked 8th in Japan for the number of alumni holding executive positions in the listed companies of Japan, and this number per student (probability of becoming an executive) is 2nd in Japan.^[38][39]

Popularity and selectivity

Hitotsubashi is one of the most selective universities in Japan. Its entrance difficulty is usually considered as one of the top with University of Tokyo, Kyoto University and Tokyo Institute of Technology among 180 national and public universities.^{[40][41][42][43]}

Notable faculty

• Tsuru Shigeto: ex-president
• J. Mark Ramseyer: ex-adjunct instructor, Mitsubishi professor of Japanese Legal Studies of Harvard Law School^[44]
• Ikujiro Nonaka: professor emeritus, director of Seven & I Holdings Co., director of Mitsui & Co.
• Kotaro Suzumura: professor emeritus
• Hirotaka Takeuchi: former dean of the Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy, director of ORIX
• Fumio Hayashi: professor, foreign honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
• Takeshi Mizubayashi: professor of Graduate School of Law
• Irmela Hijiya-Kirschnereit: ex-professor, Faculty of Social Sciences
• Joseph Schumpeter: visiting professor in 1931

Famous alumni

Josui Kaikan

The university's alumni association is called Josuikai (如水会) and its main building (Josui Kaikan) is next to the building where Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy (ICS) is in Kanda, Tokyo.

Politicians

• Shōzō Murata: ex-minister of Railways of Japan, ex-minister of Communications of Japan, president of Osaka Shosen Kaisha (now Mitsui O.S.K. Lines)
• Baek Du-jin: ex-prime minister of South Korea, ex-speaker of National Assembly of South Korea
• Masayoshi Ōhira: 68th and 69th Prime Minister of Japan
• Michio Watanabe: ex-Vice Prime Minister of Japan, ex-Minister of Finance (Japan), ex-Foreign Minister of Japan
• Koji Omi: ex-Minister of Finance (Japan)
• Shintarō Ishihara: author, current Governor of Tokyo, ex-Minister of Transportation
• Yasuo Tanaka: Author and former Governor of Nagano Prefecture
• Shigeyuki Tomita: ex-State Secretary for Foreign Affairs of Japan, ex-Senior Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice (Japan)
• Takashi Kawamura: current mayor of Nagoya City
• Rinchinnyamyn Amarjargal: ex-Prime Minister of Mongolia

Diplomats

• Saburō Kurusu: Imperial Japan's Ambassador to Germany
• Naotake Satō: Ex-President of House of Councillors of Japan, Ex-Foreign Minister of Japan
• Toshikazu Kase: Japan's first Ambassador to the United Nations
• Ichiro Komatsu: Ex-Director-General of the Cabinet Legislation Bureau, Ex-Japan's Ambassador to France

Judges, bureaucrats

• Harumi Takahashi: current governor of Hokkaidō Prefecture
• Yoshihiro Yasuda: Lawyer

Industry

• Fusanosuke Kuhara: Industrialist, Politician, founder of Kuhara Trading
• Masaru Hayami: Ex-Governor of the Bank of Japan, Ex-CEO of Nissho Iwai Corp.
• Hiroshi Okuda: Ex-Chairman of Toyota Motor and Chairman of Nihon Keidanren (Japan Business Federation)
• Otogo Kataoka: first President of Nomura Securities Co., Ltd.
• Kunio Egashira: Ex-Chairman of Ajinomoto Co., Inc.
• Taikichiro Mori: founder of Mori Building (Forbes ranked him as the richest man in the world in 1991 and 1992.)
• Hiroshi Mikitani: current CEO of Rakuten, Inc.
• Tatsumi Kimishima: current President of Nintendo, former CEO and Chairman of Nintendo of America

Academia

• Tokuzō Fukuda: Economist
• Eiichi Sugimoto: Economist
• Ichiro Nakayama: Economist, President of the Tokyo College of Commerce, the first Chairman of The Tax Commission of Japan
• Heizō Takenaka: Economist, former Minister of State for Economic and Fiscal Policy of Japan, Professor at Keio University
• Hiroko Ōta: Economist, Professor of National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, Ex-Minister of State for Special Missions of Japan
• Ryuzo Sato: Economist, C.V. Starr Professor of Economics at New York University
• Takatoshi Ito: Economist, Professor of The University of Tokyo, Ex-Deputy Vice Minister of Finance for International Affairs
• Kotaro Suzumura: Economist, Professor of School of Political Science and Economics, Waseda University, Ex-Professor of Hitotsubashi University
• Tran Van Tho: Economist, Professor of School of Social Sciences, Waseda University
• Takashi Hikino: Economist, Associate Professor of Graduate School of Economics, Kyoto University
• Mau-sheng Lee: Professor of College of Law, National Taiwan University

Others

• Aya Domenig: filmmaker (Als die Sonne vom Himmel fiel) of Japanese–Swiss origin.^[45]
• Seiichiro Kashio: Athlete, Silver Medalist of men's tennis doubles in 1920 Summer Olympics
• Masaji Kiyokawa: Athlete, Gold Medalist of backstroke in 1936 Summer Olympics, Ex-Vice Chairman of International Olympic Committee, Ex-CEO of Kanematsu Corp.
• Shinpei Mykawa: Rice farmer who introduced rice farming to an area of Texas; he came from a college that became Hitotsubashi University^[46]
• Zenzo Shimizu: Athlete, tennis player
• Kichimatsu Kishi: "Baron Kishi", oil developer in the U.S.
• George Shima: "The Potato King", the first President of the Japanese Association of America
• Futabatei Shimei: Author, Translator
• Kafū Nagai: Author
• Christian Polak: Author
• Wataru Yoshizumi: Manga artist
• Iō Kuroda: Manga artist
• Ken Ishii: musician
• Yoshiki Mizuno: musician, member of Ikimono-gakari
• Ichiro Yoshizawa: Mountaineer
• Yoshiharu Sekino: Explorer
• Kenji Tokitsu: Practitioner of Japanese martial arts

References

1. "Japanese universities: Introduction". Retrieved 15 July 2015.
2. Makoto IKEMA, "Hitotsubashi University, 1875-2000: A Hundred and Twenty-five Years of Higher Education in Japan" Palgrave Macmillan 2000
3. Classements de l'école d'ingénieurs - MINES ParisTech. Mines-paristech.fr (2012-10-25). Retrieved on 2013-08-23.
4. "一橋大学の校章「マーキュリー」の由来". Retrieved 15 July 2015.
5. "History｜About Us｜Hitotsubashi University". Retrieved 15 July 2015.
6. 入学者選抜要項／入学定員
7. "Center for Economic Institutions". Retrieved 15 July 2015.
8. "Center for Intergenerational Studies". Retrieved 15 July 2015.
9. Hitotsubashi University. "一橋大学　国際教育センター・国際課". Retrieved 15 July 2015.
10. "一橋大学イノベーション研究センター｜一橋大学". Retrieved 15 July 2015.
11. Center for Historical Social Science Literature, Hitotsubashi University
12. Hitotsubashi University Data 2008
13. "Truly Strong Universities" (in Japanese). Toyo Keizai. 2010. Retrieved April 29, 2011.
14. "Employment rate in 400 major companies rankings" (in Japanese). Weekly Economist. 2011. Retrieved April 29, 2011.
15. "Nikkei BP Brand rankings of Japanese universities" (in Japanese). Nikkei Business Publications. 2010. Retrieved April 29, 2011.
16. "Nikkei BP Brand rankings of Japanese universities" (in Japanese). Nikkei Business Publications. 2009. Retrieved April 29, 2011.
17. "GBUDU University Rankings" (in Japanese). YELL books. 2009. Retrieved April 29, 2011.
18. "ENSMP World University Rankings" (PDF). École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris. 2011. Retrieved April 29, 2011.
19. Asahi Shimbun University rankings 2010 "Publification rankings in Law (Page 4)" (PDF) (in Japanese). Asahi Shimbun. 2010. Retrieved May 11, 2011.
20. "Bar Exam Successful Applicants rankings" (in Japanese). Shikaku Seek. 2010. Retrieved May 11, 2011.
21. "Bar Exam Pass rate rankings" (in Japanese). Shikaku Seek. 2010. Retrieved May 11, 2011.
22. "Top 25% Institutions and Economists in Japan, as of January 2011". REPEC. 2011. Retrieved May 11, 2011.
23. "Business School Ranking in Japan". Eduniversal. 2010. Retrieved May 11, 2011.
24. "University and business school ranking in 5 palms (Top100)". Eduniversal. 2010. Retrieved May 11, 2011.
    "University and business school ranking in 4 palms (Top101-300)". Eduniversal. 2010. Retrieved May 11, 2011.
    "University and business school ranking in 3 palms (Top301-696)". Eduniversal. 2010. Retrieved May 11, 2011.
    "University and business school ranking in 2 palms (Top697-896)". Eduniversal. 2010. Retrieved May 11, 2011.
25. "CPA Successful Applicants rankings" (in Japanese). Yutaka Honkawa. 2010. Retrieved May 11, 2011.
26. 本当に強い大学【2010年版】総合ランキング･トップ100-東大5連覇、京大が阪大を逆転、関学躍進 | オリジナル | 東洋経済オンライン | 新世代リーダーのためのビジネスサイト. Toyokeizai.net. Retrieved on 2013-08-23.
27. All Study Destinations. Top Universities. Retrieved on 2013-08-23.
28. "週刊ダイヤモンド" ダイヤモンド社 2010/2/27 http://web.sapmed.ac.jp/kikaku/infomation/0227daiyamondokiji.pdf
29. "University rankings 2011" Asahi Shinbun
30. Within Country and State Rankings at IDEAS: Japan. Ideas.repec.org. Retrieved on 2013-08-23.
31. Economist Rankings at IDEAS. Ideas.repec.org. Retrieved on 2013-08-23.
32. Japanese Economic Association - JEA Global Site. Jeaweb.org. Retrieved on 2013-08-23.
33. 第3回新司法試験の結果について
34. Recent News | Hitotsubashi University ICS - MBA Japan. Ics.hit-u.ac.jp. Retrieved on 2013-08-23.
35. University and business school ranking in Japan. Eduniversal-ranking.com. Retrieved on 2013-08-23.
36. Yomiuri Weekly 2005/7/10
37. 年収偏差値・給料偏差値ランキング（2006・10・16）：稼げる大学はどれ？. Hensachi-ranking.seesaa.net (1999-02-22). Retrieved on 2013-08-23.
38. 出身大学別上場企業役員数ランキング (in Japanese). 大学ranking.net.
39. 役員輩出率 大学ベスト30. Ranking100.web.fc2.com. Retrieved on 2013-08-23.
40. Private universities apply different kind of exams. Thus it's only comparable between universities in the same category.
41. E.g. Yoyogi seminar published Hensachi (the indication showing the entrance difficulties by prep schools) rankings http://www.yozemi.ac.jp/rank/gakubu/index.html
42. In this ranking for example, Hitotsubashi Law course has the entrance difficulty of 90%, which is the top with University of Tokyo, and Economics course in Hitotsubashi as 2nd with 89%.
43. Japanese journalist Kiyoshi Shimano ranks its entrance difficulty as SA (most selective/out of 11 scales) in Japan. 危ない大学・消える大学 2012年版 (in Japanese). YELL books. 2011.
44. "Tenure Offered To Ramseyer". Retrieved 15 July 2015.
45. "Als die Sonne vom Himmel fiel" (in German). Festival del film Locarno. Retrieved 2015-08-08.
46. Connor, R. E. "How That Road Got Its Name." Houston Post, Sunday May 2, 1965. Spotlight, Page 3. - Available on microfilm at the Houston Public Library Central Library Jesse H. Jones Building

External links

• Hitotsubashi University
• Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy (ICS) Hitotsubashi University

Coordinates: 35°41′37″N 139°26′42″E / 35.69374°N 139.44509°E