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The story
The University of Tokyo has announced that Professor Yuko Fujigaki of the College of Arts and Sciences will become its next president. She placed second in the faculty preference poll, receiving less than half the votes of the first-place candidate, yet was ultimately chosen after a selection process that also weighed input from outside experts. She will be the first woman to serve as University of Tokyo president. On 5ch, reactions ranged from shock at the size of the vote gap to debate over the system itself — where the faculty poll is merely advisory and the final call rests with the selection committee — as well as over whether it’s even fair to compare citation counts between candidates from different academic fields.
[Breaking: 2026 Presidential Selection] Next President Is Professor Yuko Fujigaki — Finished 2nd in the Preference Poll
First time in University of Tokyo history that a woman becomes president.
Also the first time someone who wasn’t the top vote-getter has been chosen president,
Source: todaishimbun.org / Original article here
What people said
Japanese universities in the global rankings:
• #26: University of Tokyo (#1 in Japan)
• #61: Kyoto University (#2 in Japan)
• Tied for #103: Tohoku University (#3 in Japan)
Rankings based on what, exactly?
International student numbers weigh heavily in that ranking, so Todai — which goes all in recruiting them — has a decent edge there.
The faculty vote is just an opinion survey — it's basically decided through board deliberations.
University of Tokyo (PhD)
University of Tokyo Research Associate
Senior Researcher, National Institute of Science and Technology Policy
University of Tokyo Junior Associate Professor (7 years)
University of Tokyo Associate Professor (3 years)
University of Tokyo Professor (16th year)
That's a pretty long climb up the ladder.
She's clearly legit, but it's sad she's getting mocked as just a 'women's quota' pick.
But realistically, there were more qualified candidates, and the reason she got picked is because she's a woman.
College of Arts and Sciences professors are at a disadvantage there — her work is things like scientometrics for research evaluation and philosophy of science, coming from a liberal-arts angle. The first-place finisher, Someya, specializes in electronic engineering, so of course there's a gap.
Mari Sako is a Todai agriculture researcher. Rumi Suzuki went from Todai's medical school to medicine at the University of London, and is now a senior exec at Eisai.
You probably shouldn't judge people just by the name of the company they're currently at.
Lol, people with no education can only judge by whether the affiliation sounds famous.
Why write it in katakana?
That whole 'broad but shallow' liberal-arts approach is third-rate as actual research, isn't it?
At Todai right now, research spanning multiple fields basically has to be done under the liberal arts umbrella. In fact, this professor's own research covers things like the link between scientometrics and human stress.
Can't you read? The ○ mark means 'acting chair.'
Cringe, getting all worked up over an obvious joke post.
Well, the vote's only ever advisory. 2025, Niigata University → the #2 vote-getter became president. 2026, Kyoto University → the #3 vote-getter became president.
The international student ratio is dirt low. Todai's is 16%.
Peking University: 25%
National University of Singapore: 35%
Oxford: over 40%
Harvard: over 50%
That just proves the better the university, the higher its international student ratio.
Though in terms of actual track record, the male rival apparently outclasses her by more than 10x.
Did Someya even want to be president in the first place? He's got way too many other posts to juggle right now — he can always do it later once he steps down from his government roles.
Background and Key Points of the Debate
Since national universities became independent administrative corporations, the selection of a president has worked through a combination of a preference poll among faculty and staff and deliberation by a selection committee that includes outside experts — meaning the top vote-getter isn’t automatically chosen. As noted in the thread, this isn’t unique to Todai: in 2025, Niigata University’s president was its second-place finisher, and in 2026, Kyoto University’s was its third-place finisher. Where the thread split was over whether it’s fair to compare citation counts between candidates from different academic fields, and over the legitimacy of a system where the preference poll is merely ‘advisory.’ It’s worth noting that the university hasn’t disclosed which criteria the selection committee weighted most heavily in choosing Professor Fujigaki, so the view that ‘she was chosen because she’s a woman’ remains speculation confined to 5ch.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Nanademo Jikkyo G) thread “Todai: ‘The vote for president came in at less than half of first place, but eh, she’s a woman, so why not lol’ — Todai Gets Its First-Ever Female President.”
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