Kyoto University
Yoshida-Honmachi,
Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8501
JAPAN
Phone: 81-75-753-7531
Fax: 81-75-753-2092
www.kyoto-u.ac.jp

THE BOTTOM LINE

Consider Hirano Keiichiro, a graduating law student at Kyoto University. This year, he won the Akutagawa, Japan's equivalent of a Booker Prize, for his debut novel about a Catholic monk in 15th-century France. Not bad for a 23-year-old with a heavy course load (Kyodai's law faculty is one of the most rigorous in Japan). With his earrings and dyed hair, Hirano is not the typical buttoned-down lawyer in waiting. But he is a prime example of what attracts students to Kyodai - its combination of intellectual heft and liberal tradition. Fellow student Matsu-ura Koki testifies to that. "It's very free," he says. As an agriculture senior, Matsu-ura is studying advanced farm methods - controlling tractors via satellite, for instance. But he finds time to be in a rock band too.

There are plenty who immerse themselves entirely in study. There's no complacency - even if Kyodai boasts four Nobel laureates. Research units such as its recently created Institute for Frontier Medicine regularly break new ground. For instance, scientists are developing a pancreas-cell implant for diabetic patients that is expected to overcome previous rejection problems. AIDS medicine and environmental studies are other fields where advances are being made. All the same, students appreciate Kyodai's insistence on a broader curriculum in early years. As university president Nagao Makoto points out: "In the 21st century, we need people with an understanding of complex international relations as well as in-depth knowledge in specialized areas."

- By Murakami Mutsuko