A Message from the Dean

My name is Takashi Hashizume, and I have been serving as Dean of the Graduate Schools for Law and Politics and the Faculty of Law at the University of Tokyo since July 24, 2025. My academic field is criminal law.

In this message, I would like to share a few thoughts on what it means “to pursue one’s studies at the Faculty of Law at the University of Tokyo”, and to reflect on some of the distinctive features of both “the Faculty of Law” and “the Graduate Schools for Law and Politics” (for simplicity, I will hereafter refer to them as “the Faculty” and “the Graduate Schools” respectively).

 

The Faculty traces its origins to the Law School of the Ministry of Justice (established in 1872) and the Faculty of Law of Kaisei School (established in 1873). It was formally established in 1877, in conjunction with the founding of the University of Tokyo. In two years, both the University and the Faculty will mark their 150th anniversary. (For more on the Faculty’s history, please see here ; for a chronology overview, see here.)

As a venerable center of research and education in the fields of law and political science, the Faculty and Graduate Schools have, on the one hand, produced numerous outstanding scholars in these disciplines, accumulated scholarship of the very highest standard, and have taken a leading role in advancing academic discourse in Japan. On the other hand, the Faculty and Graduate Schools, though sometimes met with both praise and criticism, have also nurtured individuals who have gone on to play vital roles in upholding the very foundations of the state and society.

When people think of the career paths pursued by our graduates, many may first picture government officials, judges, prosecutors, lawyers, or journalists. While the Faculty has indeed produced many such professionals, a large number of our alumni have also gone on to build careers in the private sector and the world of business. In fact, they represent the majority among our graduates. This reflects the enduring role of the Faculty: to prepare individuals cultivated in legal and political thinking to contribute across the full spectrum of society.

 

Cultivating students with a grounding in both law and politics, these two disciplines form the very core of study at our Faculty. While political science may, depending on institutional structures, sometimes be placed within faculties of economics or other departments, our Faculty and Graduate Schools treat law and political science as twin wheels, each supporting and enriching the other. This dual focus is one of our defining features, and one of our greatest strengths.

Law and political science are social sciences that explore the workings of society. In a world where people hold diverse values, perspectives, positions, and backgrounds, these disciplines ask how we should address social challenges and conflicts. Law approaches these questions by focusing on the “norms”, while political science focuses on the “phenomena” of policymaking and decision-making processes. Grounded in long histories and a vast accumulation of debates, law and political science are disciplines that seek to examine “how the various problems that arise in human society are, or ought to be, resolved”; to explore the norms and ideas that sustain society and facilitate the resolution of social issues; and to develop analytical frameworks for examining social phenomena. Consider, for example, the rapid advances in science and technology, such as AI. How should society respond to these developments? What kinds of institutional arrangements are needed to support them? How should we integrate social needs and considerations into the evolution of these technologies? These are precisely the kinds of issues that law and political science are called upon to address. Technological developments and business activities do not occur in a vacuum, they are inseparable from the society in which they take place. As new phenomena emerge, the importance of law and political science grows in weight. These disciplines provide essential analytical frameworks for identifying, recognizing, and understanding social problems and issues, for discussing possible solutions, and for designing social systems that are responsive to such challenges. Because of this very nature, the study of law and political science necessarily involves historical perspectives, comparative analysis across nations, and international considerations. It also requires engagement with various other disciplines, such as economics, sociology, and philosophy.

 

Another vital set of “twin wheels” lies in research and education. At our Faculty and Graduate Schools, scholars who are active at the forefront of their fields are equally devoted to education. The education we offer is firmly grounded in each faculty member’s cutting-edge research, and carries significant meaning as a contribution to the development of future generations. At the same time, the insights and inspirations gained through education feed back into research. In this way, research and education function as “twin wheels”, both at the institutional level of the Faculty and Graduate Schools, and at the individual level for each faculty member.

At the heart of our research and education in law and political science is our distinguished faculty. Approximately 80 professors and associate professors are actively engaged in research across a wide range of these fields, channeling their findings directly into their teaching. The scale of our faculty fosters a rich diversity of research areas, allowing the Graduate Schools to cover a broad spectrum of specializations in law and political science. Our professorial faculty continues to grow more diverse, with members coming from a variety of backgrounds, not limited to graduates of the University of Tokyo, nor defined by nationality or gender.

A rich collection of books and archival materials―an enduring accumulation of knowledge―supports our research and education in law and political science. We take great pride in being home to the extraordinary resources: the Faculty of Law Library, which, as a specialized legal and political science library, boasts the largest collection of books of its kind in Japan; and the Center for Modern Japanese Legal and Political Documents, which collects and preserves modern and contemporary Japan’s newspapers, magazines, and valuable primary sources, including the most extensive collection of periodicals published in Japan during the Meiji era.

And perhaps most notably, there is the long-standing tradition of the Faculty and Graduate Schools as a “community of knowledge”. Centered on the constant accumulation and transmission of scholarship in law and political science, the “community” is sustained by its faculty members, staff, students, alumni, and all those connected to the Faculty and Graduate Schools.

 

In these turbulent times, I regard it as my duty, as Dean of the Graduate Schools for Law and Politics and the Faculty of Law, to carry forward our strengths and pass them on to the next generation. I also hope to contribute, however modestly, to their continued growth and development. I believe this is the calling entrusted to me.

 

If you are interested in studying at the University of Tokyo’s Faculty of Law, we warmly invite you to explore the following pages: For those considering undergraduate study at the Faculty of Law, please see this page. For those interested in entering the Law School, please see this page. For those seeking to pursue research at the master’s or doctoral program, please see this page. And if you are thinking of supporting our research and education, we would be sincerely grateful if you could visit this page as well.

 

Thank you once again for your interest in the Faculty of Law and the Graduate Schools for Law and Politics, and for taking the time to visit our website.

 

Dean of the Graduate Schools for Law and Politics
and the Faculty of Law, the University of Tokyo

Takashi Hashizume