U of Tokyo

[Ono Seiko and Aaron Gerow]

Taro Goto asked:

>What I would
>like to know, however, is how strong they are in the film studies
>department.  I've checked out a recent course catalog, and I found that
>only two or three film courses were offered per year.  If these few courses
>are being taught by reknowned film scholars, I will go ahead and take those
>courses.  But if the U. of Tokyo simply is not known for its film studies,
>I might look elsewhere or stay put in the Bay Area.
>
>If you know anything about the state of film education in Japan, and the U.
>of Tokyo in particular, please give me some insight.

The University of Tokyo is famous for Hasumi Shigehiko, the most
influential film critic/scholar of the last 30 years in Japan.  Due to his
influence, they have built up a decent film studies program which has
recently been producing good graduate students and even attracting students
from abroad.

The problem, I guess you could say, is that Hasumi is now president of the
University.  That might help film studies there in the future, but at least
for his tenure, he will not be teaching many film classes and will most
certainly not be available much for advising.

As it now stands, the best places to study film in Japan other than Tokyo
are Waseda, Nihon University, Kyoto, Meiji Gakuin, and possibly some of the
art universities.

Aaron Gerow
YNU