"Gateway to Renown"--Keio University

These are the results of a survey conducted by a Japanese magazine with a sample of fifty university women. Though all in fun, the answers reveal some of the special features of Japanese universities, and they have their accurate points. These are the three most noted universities in the country, situated in the Kanto region. And Keio is known as the "gateway to renown."

What are the special features of Keio? Is it really, as depicted in the survey, a school attended by children protected by their wealthy families?

The predecessor to Keio, a school for "Dutch studies" (rangaku), was founded in 1858. Keio itself was formally established in 1868 (the fourth year of the reign of Keio, thus the school's name). It is Japan's oldest university.

The period when Keio was founded was the era of Japanese isolation under the Tokugawa Shogunate. The great powers were planning to force Japan open, and the Meiji restoration was about to happen. Fukuzawa Yukichi, the founder of Keio, is a major thinker in modern Japanese history. He knew that if Japan did not react immediately to the Western challenge, it would be even harder to get a footing on the world stage later. The first step was to understand how the Western powers could come to Asia with such unbridled power in the 19th century. He felt the easiest place to start was education, and opened the university, hoping to get to the root--to understand Western power from the study of politics, law, and economics.

Thus Keio had courses in literature, finance, law, and politics at its inception. Later these were expanded into colleges of humanities, economics, and law. Further on, colleges of medicine, business, and engineering were established. Besides the six colleges, Keio has graduate programs at the M.A. and Ph.D. level in literature, economics, law, sociology, business, medicine, engineering, and management.

Besides these, the school also has several topical "research institutes," including journalism, physical education, and so on.

In the hearts of Japanese, Keio is a first-class institution, matched in the Kanto region only by state-run Tokyo University and private Waseda. Its colleges of law, economics, and business are most highly recommended, and are the most common subjects of study there for overseas students from the ROC

Oddly, it's hard to get a concrete answer as to what separates these courses of study from their counterparts in other universities. So why choose Keio?

Ho Sun-tah, still in graduate school, is quite representative. He explains that when he was first deciding which school to test for, he was wavering between the public Hitotsubashi University (famous for its business studies) and Keio. So he asked his guarantor for advice. His guarantor asked him what his purpose was in studying business. To be a scholar or to actually do business? Ho chose the latter. So his guarantor said: Then go to Keio!

Ho says that his guarantor's reasoning was: if you want to do business, then it will be no problem to find a job given the school's high prestige in Japanese society. After he entered the school and saw where the students ahead of him went after graduation, the foresight of his guarantor was confirmed. And even if foreign students can't work in Japan, they can easily find work in Japanese-related companies anywhere in the world.

That Keio has this advantage is partly due to its founding heritage, partly to its subsequent development.

It seems very natural throughout the world that those who have studied humanities or social science play a large role in the political arena. But this isn't exactly the case in Japan. No prime minister of Japan has ever graduated from Keio, and the number of Keio grads who go on to work in the civil service is less than half of that for Tokyo University or Waseda.

It is said that this is related to the character of the founder, who deeply hated political craft. Himself unwilling to enter politics, he also did not encourage his students to do so. Thus traditionally most students went into practical affairs. Many have become leading industrialists, and, helping each other out, have become one of the most powerful groups in Japanese commerce, called the "Keio Clique." According to statistics, among the heads of Japan's top 2,000 companies, 181 are from Keio, the most except for Tokyo University.

The power of the "Keio Clique" lies in their tight-knit relations, and the effects of a 110-year- old alumni association cannot be overlooked. "I graduated from Keio University" is how alumni always begin introductions. And no matter how many years have elapsed, or how long the gap between graduating classes, other Keio alumni only have to hear this and they will give the maximum of care.

Currently there are 800 different alumni groupings with 200,000 members. No other university has an organization of such size or power.

Hung Ching-fong, who graduated from the graduate school of business, was a recipient of alumni benevolence. He points out that sometimes he runs up against a xenophobic streak in Japanese, and is forced to do unreasonable things. But he has a place to appeal: "There's always an alumnus higher in rank than the guy who controls your unit."

Ko Wei-chieh, who graduated from the medical school two years ago and now works in Keio's affiliated hospital, says that the faculty and classmates at Keio remember that they are all Keio people, and don't treat him as a foreigner. "In the hospital, you get better treatment even than Japanese from other universities," says Lai Chien-shou, another Keio med graduate.

But Keio's policy on overseas students seems to be changing. The medical school has not accepted any Taiwan students in six or seven years, and the numbers in other graduate programs are declining.

Numerous signs indicate that Keio is changing. The number of students testing to enter has gone up consistently, and the acceptance rate has fallen. Its students are seen as more elite than ever. Many people believe that changes in society are redounding to Keio's benefit. As Japan moves into apost-industrial era, and the Recruit scandal sparks demands for cleaner, more prudent politics, the meticulously packaged, wealthy yet clean Keio image matches perfectly with the trend of the times.

According to statistics, the number of Keio graduates in the Diet (parliament) is up 37% from 1980, while the figure for Tokyo University has only increased 8% in the same period. Does this mean Keio students will change their tradition and storm onto the political stage? For venerable old Keio, this is a turning point worth keeping an eye on.

[Picture Caption]

The person on the 10,000 yen bill is the founder of Keio, Fukuzawa Yukichi, a major figure in introducing Western thought to Japan in the modern era.

Keio has an affiliated primary school, middle school, and high school. Its tied-together education is one of its special features. The photo shows students from the primary school in the early period, but the style of the uniform hasn't changed.

Keio University traces its roots back to 1858, making it Japan's oldest university. (photo from A Pictorial History of Keio University 1858-1985)

The new library is one of the proudest parts of the school. It has 2.3 million volumes, making it one of the largest libraries in the Tokyo area.

Keio boasts both an old history and the newest in information technology . The school bulletin board, crammed with legal documents, is breathtaking.

A corner of the Keio campus.

A university square popular for students to congregate in. The almond trees in the background are at quite an advanced age.

A stylish Keio student.

Several members of the ROC Keio alumni association. All unmarried, the alumni joke that this is a "matchmaking photo."

Seven Chinese in one class? Students from Taiwan at Keio University--the y are also unmarried.

The person on the 10,000 yen bill is the founder of Keio, Fukuzawa Yukichi, a major figure in introducing Western thought to Japan in the modern era.

Keio has an affiliated primary school, middle school, and high school. Its tied-together education is one of its special features. The photo shows students from the primary school in the early period, but the style of the uniform hasn't changed.

The new library is one of the proudest parts of the school. It has 2.3 million volumes, making it one of the largest libraries in the Tokyo area.

A corner of the Keio campus.

Keio boasts both an old history and the newest in information technology . The school bulletin board, crammed with legal documents, is breathtaking.

A university square popular for students to congregate in. The almond trees in the background are at quite an advanced age.

A stylish Keio student.

Several members of the ROC Keio alumni association. All unmarried, the alumni joke that this is a "matchmaking photo.".

Seven Chinese in one class? Students from Taiwan at Keio University--the y are also unmarried.