Massage Frome President The University of Tokyo

   The world today is facing a period of dramatic change. As finance and industry are suffering great instability on a global scale and the foundations of individuals’ livelihoods are being eroded, society is searching for a reliable compass to the future. After overcoming the challenge of this crisis, it is unlikely that the world will return to the same state as before—the wisdom gained by humanity during this experience should give rise to a new form of society in which everyone can live a more comfortable and more stable lifestyle.
   Academia is expected to sketch the outline of this future society and mark the path to reach that goal. At The University of Tokyo, we are carrying out fundamental research into the very existence of humankind, the mechanisms of life itself and the structure of space and matter, the creation of new technologies and research on systems and theories to support social life and activities. On the basis of this broad and diverse research, the University is fostering the exceptional talent that will sustain the future of humanity.
   The University of Tokyo, as a national university corporation supported by the Japanese people, is committed to fulfilling its public responsibility through academic research and by fostering new talent, thus providing a reliable compass to the future. It goes without saying that the problems we face today and in our daily lives exist within the context of our mutual relations with other countries. The education and research activities of The University of Tokyo cannot be sustained without the involvement of the rest of the world, and we hope that the benefits of that research will be widely enjoyed by humanity at large.
  As society faces up to the challenges of today, so The University of Tokyo will bear its share of the burden through the creation of new academic value and the construction of diverse education and research programs. We will continue to concentrate our labors on reinforcing the academic foundations that make this challenge possible, and with this in mind, The University of Tokyo spreads its academic wings not just to the present and the future, but to the past as well. A determined effort to realize the future possibilities of knowledge, combined with a historically-tempered awareness of the accumulation of wisdom is the essential prerequisite for the creation of human knowledge. It is by focusing not just on scholarship for acclaim today, but by ensuring the sustenance and continued development of diverse disciplines that we can enrich the foundations of knowledge and nurture new sources of creativity.

   I believe that through the creation of knowledge, through education and through close association with society, now more than ever is the time in which The University of Tokyo must fulfill its public responsibility towards the future of Japan and of the world. As a cornerstone of human knowledge, The University of Tokyo, with its abundant conceptual powers, is determined to forge ahead on the pathway to that future.


Junichi HAMADA
President, The University of Tokyo
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