Tokyo University of Science

Tokyo University of Science founded in 1881, is one of the oldest private universities of science and technology in Japan.
Rooted in a strong sense of ethics, scientists and engineers at TUS strive to solve global challenges and make the world a better place through science.

The Tokyo Butsurigaku Koshujo (Tokyo Academy of Physics), the forerunner of the Tokyo University of Science, was founded in 1881. The Academy was the brainchild of 21 young scientists who had just graduated from the Department of Physics at the University of Tokyo (then the Imperial University). Two years later, the academy was renamed the Tokyo Butsuri Gakko (Tokyo College of Science). At the time, there was a strong popular movement for democratic rights. In this climate, while teaching and research in the fields of politics, economics and law came to the fore, there was a tendency to downplay the importance of teaching and research in science.

Tokyo University of Science has four major libraries in addition to the field-specific document and reference collections run by individual schools and departments. The four major university libraries are the Kagurazaka Library (located on the ninth, tenth, and eleventh floors of Building No. 1 on the Kagurazaka campus),the Katsushika Library on the Katsushika campus, the Commemorative Library (Noda Library) on the Noda campus and the Oshamambe Library on the Oshamambe campus. The university runs a computer system that links these four libraries with the Tokyo University of Science, Suwa Library, allowing students and members of the faculty to easily search and access materials throughout the TUS library system. We are also working on a system that would allow a variety of electronic resources, including databases, online journals, and electronic books, to be accessed from anywhere in the university.

Every TUS campus features a range of athletic facilities to help maintain the health of students and members of the faculty and build their strength. In addition to the standard physical education courses, athletic facilities throughout the university are available for extracurricular activities, social events, and a variety of other activities.

TUS is leading the way among universities with its special classroom facility called "Seminar House" on the Noda campus. The Seminar House includes a full range of special-purpose rooms, including large assembly halls, seminar rooms, PC laboratories, meeting rooms, accommodations, a cafeteria, and more.

Other TUS facilities range from the on-campus Student Training Center to those that exist beyond the borders of its campuses, such as the Daigo Training Center. These facilities are available for seminars, training events, or overnight club activities.

The Science and Technology Museum was constructed to commemorate the 110th anniversary of the University's founding, and its Meiji-era architecture now stands as a symbol of the Kagurazaka campus. The late Fuku Futamura, graduate of the class of 1941, was a proponent of scientific and technological education and research who worked to restore the two-story wooden building that housed the Tokyo College of Science (predecessor to the modern Tokyo University of Science; built in 1964). The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 AM to 4 PM (excluding university holidays), and houses a collection of old science books, the first Japanese-made computer, the first English-Japanese dictionary written in Japan, a gramophone invented by Thomas Edison, and numerous other treasures. Visitors can enjoy a variety of exhibits, including hands-on and interactive displays.

The Tokyo Butsurigaku Koshujo (Tokyo Academy of Physics), the forerunner of the Tokyo University of Science, was founded in 1881, and two years later the academy was renamed the Tokyo Butsuri Gakko (Tokyo College of Science). The University of Tokyo (then the Imperial University) was founded in 1877. Because physics in the Faculty of Science was taught by a French instructor in French, the University of Tokyo established the Department of Physics in French, which continued for around three years. A group of 19 first- to third-year young scientists who graduated from this department and two others founded the Tokyo Academy of Physics and formed a pact to sustain the academy, with the aim of "Building a Better Future with Science." (The group later came to be known as the "sustaining" teachers.) Back then, a popular movement for democratic rights was at its prime.

At a time when departments of politics, economics and law flourished, the "sustaining" teachers believed that "science and technology were the foundations of national prosperity." The movement to promote a broad understanding of science advocated by the Tokyo College of Science resonated with professors at the University of Tokyo at the time. Eminent professors such as Dairoku Kikuchi (Mathematics), Kenjiro Yamakawa (Physics), Aikitsu Tanakadate (Physics), Hantaro Nagaoka (Physics), and Joji Sakurai (Chemistry), who went on to become president of the University of Tokyo and leaders of RIKEN lent their support to the movement. Until the Kyoto Imperial University was consequently founded in 1897 and the College of Science and Technology (Faculty of Science and Technology) was established within the university, natural sciences were taught only at the University of Tokyo and the Tokyo College of Science during the interim years of the Meiji Period.