At Valls, the borders of the Netherlands, ___________, and Belgium meet. The Maas river winds south from Vaals, passing through a series of locks that indicate the Vaals, passing through a series of locks that indicate the Maas is descending from ___________, Holland's only mountainous region. The surrounding area is farmland and the primary crops are apples, ___________, and ___________. After skirting the border of ___________, the Maas passes through ___________, a forest 70 km. wide and ___________ and ___________ km. long.
This is a extract (translated) from one of the entrance exams to Tokyo University (Todai). Probably even a lot of the Dutch out there have problems filling in the blanks. So how come it is in the Japanese entrance exam, how can any Japanese have the interest in studying Dutch geography and finally how can Japanese students manage to fill in the above blanks?
You guessed it. They must be mega-nerds with no interests besides from studying. The selection often starts as early as when the students enter kindergarten. Some parents actually may move to the right town so that there promising son shall be able to get into Tokyo University.
With Kaisei high school students, of whom 50% will go to Tokyo
University
Those who get into Today are destined for what passes for the good life in Japan - employment in a key government agency, corner office, mistresses, high salary and the chance to enter expensive sports clubs.
Every year a bit more than 15000 students graduate from Tokyo University. And about 12% of these are women. The male graduates together form the group of men who together make up the world's probably most successful old-boys gang.
A quarter of all the members of the Japanese Diet (Japanese parliament) are Todai-graduates, while close to 100% of the Members in the powerful Ministry of Finance have the same background, more than a quarter of the presidents of Japan's top 1,400 corporations... We can safely say that these men control and run Japan Inc. on a daily basis.
Just to have it mentioned, this is one of the main reasons why Japan really can't be considered a real democracy.
As I said, you have to be an excellent student to get into Todai. Most students know from an early age that they'll never make it into Todai. To get in, first of all you'll have to go to the right elementary school, junior high school and high school. And it helps to start walking up the right path early. Some kindergartens explain in advertisements how kids will be able to enter the right elementary school if they enter the right kindergarten. You have to get on the right escalator at once, because it just gets harder and harder to get on.
Students who want to enter Tokyo University normally have to study at least 16 hours a day. The 15000 who manage to absorb the most information before the entrance exam will be able to enter. And the same people will govern Japan some years after their graduation.
It's difficult to compare Todai with any other institution in the Western world. Perhaps Britain can be a bit similar when it comes to some of its elite-schools, but not a single school has the same position as Todai has in Japan.
Therefore entering Todai is the dream for a few Japanese. And the leaders who graduate from Todai are everyone else's worst nightmares.
Jan Einar
Norway-Japan 96/97