For more than 130 years, the University of Tokyo has been unrivaled as the gateway to elite careers for thousands of hopeful candidates who pass the exam to get in.
Established by the Meiji government, the university commonly called Todai was established as the nation's first national university. Its mandate was to produce great minds to enable Japan to catch with the West. Graduates of law, in particular, have traditionally gone on to hold key positions in government.
But recently, observers say the school is losing its hitherto uncontested prestige as employers look for qualitative skills in employees and its graduates branch out into careers other than the bureaucracy.
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