Meiji University


Meiji University is a private research university in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. Originally founded as by three lawyers in 1881, it became a university in April 1920.
As of May 2023, Meiji has 32,261 undergraduate students and 2,635 postgraduate students. The university consists of 10 undergraduate, 12 graduate, and 4 professional graduate schools, and operates on four campuses around the Greater Tokyo Area: Surugadai, Izumi, Ikuta, and Nakano. Meiji University is the country's most applied-to university, with applications to its undergraduate degrees amounting to approximately 100,000 annually. Meiji is a part of the Top Global University Project of Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. As of 2021, 270 Meiji alumni have competed in the Olympics, garnering 40 medals: 14 gold, 13 silver, and 13 bronze.

Academics

Undergraduate schools

  • School of Law
  • *Businesses Law Course
  • *International Relations Law Course
  • *Public Service Law Course
  • *Law and Information Course
  • *Pre-Law School Course
  • School of Commerce
  • *Applied Economics Course
  • *Marketing Course
  • *Finance & Insurance Course
  • *Global Business Course
  • *Management Course
  • *Accounting Course
  • *Creative Business Course
  • School of Political Science and Economics
  • *Department of Political Science
  • *Department of Economics
  • *Department of Regional Administration
  • School of Arts and Letters
  • *Department of Literature
  • *Department of History and Geography
  • *Department of Social Psychology
  • School of Science and Technology
  • *Department of Electrical Engineering
  • *Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering
  • *Department of Mechanical Engineering
  • *Department of Precision Engineering
  • *Department of Architecture
  • *Department of Industrial Chemistry
  • *Department of Information Science
  • *Department of Mathematics
  • *Department of Physics
  • School of Agriculture
  • *Department of Agriculture
  • *Department of Agricultural Chemistry
  • *Department of Life Sciences
  • *Department of Food and Environmental Policy
  • School of Business Administration
  • *Department of Business Administration
  • *Department of Accounting
  • *Department of Public Management
  • School of Information and Communication
  • School of Global Japanese Studies
  • *Department of Global Japanese Studies
  • School of Interdisciplinary Mathematical Sciences

    Graduate schools

  • Graduate School of Law
  • Graduate School of Commerce
  • Graduate School of Political Science and Economics
  • Graduate School of Business Administration
  • Graduate School of Arts and Letters
  • Graduate Schools of Informatics and Communication
  • Graduate School of Science and Technology
  • Graduate School of Agriculture
  • Graduate School of Advanced Mathematical Sciences
  • Graduate School of Humanities
  • Graduate School of Global Japanese Studies
  • Graduate School of Global Governance

    Professional Graduate Schools

  • Graduate School of Governance Studies
  • Graduate School of Global Business
  • Graduate School of Professional Accountancy
  • Law School

    Campus life

belongs to the Tokyo Big6 Baseball League. Every year, rugby union and baseball matches Meisōsen against Waseda University attract support among its students. It also has a successful judo team.
In 2004, Meiji University reorganised existent three museum collections and opened Meiji University Museum. The university announced on February 26, 2009, that it would open a museum dedicated to anime and manga. It will include international research centers hosting Japanese and international scholars as well as a large quality of artifacts on the subject.

Academic rankings

Meiji University has achieved worldwide recognition in various international publications focusing on higher education.

General rankings

The university has been ranked 19th and 26th in 2009 and 2010 respectively in the ranking "Truly Strong Universities" by Toyo Keizai. The QS World University Rankings ranked the university 354th in Asia in 2025.

Research performance

The Nikkei Shimbun on 16 February 2004 surveyed about the research standards in engineering studies based on Thomson Reuters, Grants in Aid for Scientific Research and questionnaires to heads of 93 leading Japanese Research Centers, and Meiji was placed 37th in this ranking.
Meiji has filed the 62nd highest number of patents in the nation as its research outcomes.

Graduate school rankings

Meiji Law School is considered one of the top Japanese law schools, as Meiji's number of successful candidates for Japanese bar examination has been 14th and 20th in 2009 and 2010 respectively. It is one of the strongest department in this university as the cumulative number of people qualified as lawyer and prosecutor has been historically sixth after WW2.
Eduniversal ranked Meiji as fourth in the rankings of "Excellent Business Schools nationally strong and/or with continental links" in Japan.

Alumni rankings

According to the Weekly Economist's 2010 rankings, graduates from Meiji University have the 35th best employment rate in 400 major companies
The university is also ranked sixth in Japan for the number of alumni holding the position of executive in the listed companies of Japan, and this number per student is 25th.
Meiji graduates have been ranked fifth in Japan in the number of successful national CPA exam applicants. Its graduates have been also ranked ninth in Japan in the number of successful Architect Registration exam applicants.
Furthermore, the number of Members of Parliament who graduated Meiji is sixth in Japan.

Popularity and selectivity

The number of applicants per place was 24.9 in the 2011 undergraduate admissions, this number of applicants was largest in 2011. Its entrance difficulty is also very selective.
Meiji university is regarded as comparable with the Tokyo-area private universities Aoyama Gakuin, Rikkyo, Chuo, and Hosei, collectively called "MARCH".

Alumni

Meiji University's alumni have included: Japan's first female lawyer, 2 Japanese prime ministers, 48 national politicians, 380 professional athletes, 115 company presidents, and 264 artists.

Politics

World leaders

  • The 66th Japanese Prime Minister Takeo Miki
  • The 81st Japanese Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama

    Other politicians

  • Gibril Ibrahim in the republic of Sudan.
  • Xie Jieshi
  • Hasegawa Nyozekan
  • Abdoel Madjid Usman
  • Yōsuke Matsuoka
  • Ichio Asukata
  • Takashi Sasagawa
  • Ken Harada
  • Masayuki Fujio
  • Hiromichi Watanabe
  • Yoshitaka Sakurada
  • Fumiaki Matsumoto
  • Ritsuo Hosokawa
  • Yoshitaka Shindo
  • Satoshi Takayama
  • Shigeo Kitamura
  • Yoshio Urushibara
  • Koichi Tani
  • Masaji Matsuyama
  • Masaaki Akaike
  • Naoki Inose
  • Ben Nighthorse Campbell, US Senator

    Others

  • Yū Aku
  • Seiya Ando
  • Hideki Arai
  • Morio Agata
  • Nahomi Edamoto
  • Yuta Fujihara
  • Tatsuji Fuse
  • Hideo Gosha
  • Koji Hashimoto
  • Masaaki Hatsumi
  • Tiger Hattori
  • Syu Hiraide
  • Takafumi Hori
  • Senichi Hoshino
  • Kei Inoo
  • Mao Inoue
  • Sogo Ishii
  • Kensuke Isidu
  • Sachio Ito
  • Kaiji Kawaguchi
  • Yuzo Kawashima
  • Kan Kikuchi
  • Keiko Kitagawa
  • Yuki Kobayashi
  • Ryuki Miura
  • Mayumi Mizuno
  • Masaru Kitano
  • Takeshi Kitano
  • Daichi Kiyono
  • Akira Kobayashi
  • Yasuo Kobayashi
  • Masao Koga
  • Masato Koizumi
  • Shigeaki Kosugi
  • Keiichiro Koyama, former MC
  • Kazufumi Miyazawa
  • Showtaro Morikubo
  • Osamu Mukai
  • Yuto Nagatomo
  • Toshiyuki Nishida
  • Tomoso Nonaka
  • Hiroshi Ohshita
  • Yoshiaki Oiwa
  • Kihachi Okamoto
  • Ren Osugi
  • Toshio Sakai
  • Motoi Sakuraba
  • Kazuhiro Sano
  • Kiyoshi Sasabe
  • Mamoru Sasaki
  • Norio Sasaki
  • Kentaro Seki
  • Fusako Shigenobu
  • Tetsuo Shinohara
  • Sohn Kee-chung
  • Kokichi Sugihara
  • Denmei Suzuki
  • Shigeyoshi Suzuki
  • Yuzo Takada
  • Ken Takakura
  • Buyūzan Takeyoshi
  • Noboru Tanaka
  • Kenichiro Teratsuji
  • Eijirō Tōno
  • Keigo Tsunemoto
  • Ryoichi Uchimura
  • Naomi Uemura
  • Moriteru Ueshiba
  • Wataru Watari
  • Koji Yamamoto
  • Mizuki Yamamoto
  • Tatsuro Yamashita
  • Tomohisa Yamashita
  • Yoshihiro Yonezawa
  • Tom Yoda, current councilor of the university and ex-chairman of Avex Group
  • Kenjirou Tsuda
  • Shingo Fujimori
  • Chicara Jericho
  • Shogo Hama
  • Wakaba Higuchi
  • Shun Sato

    Sister Universities

  • National Formosa University, Yunlin, Taiwan