There are walls in the university
I am a graduate of the University of Tokyo, having graduated from the Department of Aesthetics and Art Studies in the Faculty of Letters in 2019. Hoping to become a musician, I took a leave of absence between my third and fourth years to record at home, but nothing particularly came of it. After returning to school, I wanted to become a music writer, so I took entrance exams for various publishing companies, which is how I got to where I am today. The title of my graduation thesis was "The 'Urban' Sensibility in Japanese Popular Music: Focusing on an Analysis of 'City Pop'."
From my student days to the present, my guiding principle has always been whether or not my intellectual curiosity is stimulated, and I believe this is also where the connection between the somewhat strange combination of the University of Tokyo and BRUTUS lies.
I love the overly nerdy "New Year's Talk" between Tatsuro Yamashita and Junichi Miyaji that airs at the beginning of each year on "Yamashita Tatsuro's Sunday Songbook." This is because I find it reassuring to see the independent flow of time of hobbyists, who are content with having a good-sounding record in front of them. The same flow of time was evident in the various laboratories at the University of Tokyo that I visited for this article.
There are walls around universities. These walls protect the time of university students. On the other hand, the university walls are very tolerant to those who wish to overcome them and learn more, lowering the threshold and guiding them into the dazzling world of academia. That is why the title of this special feature is "Admissions Guide."
The University of Tokyo opens its doors to all people with intellectual curiosity. The moment you decide you want to learn, you can enter the intellectual space of university. In today's age, when the value of learning is wavering, I hope this book will help you cultivate within yourself the kind of intellect that will give you peace of mind.
