In the largely classless society of postwar Japan, educational qualifications, particularly at the college level, have been the key determinant of career opportunities. Hence, standardized admission and low tuition fees ensured that anyone with brains had a chance to attend the top national institutions such as the University of Tokyo ("Todai"), and then launch themselves on a fast-track career path at a blue-chip corporation or in the civil service.

Consequently, the whole nation has long been obsessed with education, with Todai as the ultimate goal. However, an absence of government scholarships, recent steep fee increases at national universities and cuts in government financial aid to students are now denying bright students with limited means a vital springboard to career opportunities. This endangers the egalitarianism that has driven Japan's postwar economic growth.

Annual tuition fees at Japanese universities are now among the highest in the world. Those at national universities, which were a readily affordable 36,000 yen in 1975, have risen 15-fold over three decades to a daunting 536,000 yen after a further increase last year. This figure, according to a Ministry of Education survey, is more than double the average fees of state universities in the United States. The ministry, however, seems intent on pushing up fees even higher.