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[University Campuses]
University Campuses and Local Area around Them
Three Campuses of the University of Tokyo
The University of Tokyo has three major campuses, Hongo, Komaba and Kashiwa.
All the three campuses are located within the Greater Tokyo Area. But
it takes about an hour to move from the Hongo campus to either Komaba or
Kashiwa, and it takes about two hours from Komaba to Kashiwa.
The Physics Major Course of the University of Tokyo Graduate School of Science
has about 100 faculty members hosting graduate students. Most of them have
their research groups in one of the three campuses; faculty members
belonging to such research institutes as ICRR (institute for
cosmic ray research), ISSP (institute for solid state physics) and
Kavli IPMU (institute for the physics and mathematics of the universe) are
stationed at the Kashiwa campus, whereas those to the
"Department of Physics" are regularly at the Hongo campus.
The Math Department (=Graduate School of Mathematical Science) is in Komaba
campus. Some other faculty members of the Physics Major Course have
their research groups in a university campus other than the three above.
All the class-room lectures are delivered at the Hongo campus. So, graduate
students with their thesis adviser at campuses other than Hongo will often
go to Hongo campus in the first academic year to attend the class-room
lectures, but will spend most of their time in their research campus
for the rest of the Ph.D. program.
Hongo Campus
The Hongo campus is a home of research groups that belong to the Department
of Physics, and also a home of some other groups of the Physics Major Course.
All the class-room lectures of the Physics Major Course are provided in this
campus.
The Hongo campus is in the middle of Tokyo downtown. It has a history of
a little more than 100 years as a part of the University of Tokyo, and
the campus also has historical buildings and gardens that date back to
the era before the civil revolution in the 19th century. The Hongo campus
looks like THIS (Google), or THAT (Baidu).
It is located here geographically (Google map).
[try yourself with "Hongo, Tokyo, Japan" if necessary]
Within walking distance from Hongo are Ueno area (where there are
Buddhism temples, museums, concert halls and a park) and Akihabara
(an area of modern subculture and shopping). Most of major cultural
facilities, fashionable shopping districts, gardens, and business districts of
downtown Tokyo, and also the Royal Palace are within 30 minutes ride
on the Metro subway system from Hongo.
Kashiwa Campus
The Kashiwa campus is a home of research groups that belong to the ICRR, ISSP
and Kavli IPMU, and also of a few other groups in the Physics Major Course.
It is a relatively new campus of the University of Tokyo, starting around
the turn of the century. It is in the north-east suburban area of the Greater
Tokyo Area; it takes about 30 minutes on train from Kashiwa area to get
to a part of Tokyo downtown (such as Hongo, Ueno, and Akihabara area).
The Kashiwa campus looks like THIS (Google), or
THAT (U. Tokyo site), and is located here geographically (Google map).
[try yourself with "Kashiwa-no-ha, Chiba, Japan" if necessary]
Kashiwa itself is a residential, commercial and industrial area in the
suburbs of Tokyo, with 400,000 population. It is also a home of a few
professional sports teams. Within walking distance from the Kashiwa campus
are nearly untouched forests and a canal.