--- description: The cuts, at the Education Ministry's request, have caused profound concern among academics title: Japanese Universities Slash Humanities and Social Sciences image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt50a6b53b84be6efb/698863cf5f570f28c1b1d60a/gettyimages-558230123.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Alarm Over Huge Cuts to Humanities and Social Sciences at Japanese Universities by [Nash Jenkins](/author/p-nash-jenkins/) ## Nash Jenkins Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 16, 2015 5:53 AM CUT  A view of the University of Tokyo A view of the University of TokyoJTB Photo—UIG/Getty Images by [Nash Jenkins](/author/p-nash-jenkins/) ## Nash Jenkins Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 16, 2015 5:53 AM CUT More than two dozen Japanese universities [have announced](https://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/social-sciences-and-humanities-faculties-close-japan-after-ministerial-decree "undefined") that they will reduce or altogether eliminate their academic programs in the humanities and social sciences, following a dictum from Tokyo to focus on disciplines that “better meet society’s needs.” _Times Higher Education_ reports that of the 60 Japanese universities that offer courses in these subjects, 26 will comply to some extent with the government’s proposal, which came in a June 8 letter from Education Minister Hakubun Shimomura. In it, he encouraged Japan’s institutes of higher education to take “active steps to abolish \[these programs\]” or convert them to scholastic opportunities in the natural sciences. Law and economics fall within the purview of the condemned disciplines. Seventeen universities will no longer recruit students to study them; the rest will eliminate elective courses within them. The Universities of Tokyo and Kyoto — Japan’s only two universities to clear the top hundred in [world university rankings](https://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2015/world-ranking#/sort/0/direction/asc "undefined") — said they would not heed the government’s call. --- ### More from TIME --- The vision is utilitarian, in line with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s results-oriented drive to reassert Japan’s economic and political stature. Officials have expressed concern that Japanese research in the natural sciences is faltering, and so “rather than deepening academic research that is highly theoretical, we will conduct more practical vocational education that better anticipates the needs of society,” Abe [said last year](http://www.socialsciencespace.com/2015/08/japans-education-ministry-says-to-axe-social-science-and-humanities/ "undefined"). Last month, Takamitsu Sawa, president of Shiga University, wrote [an op-ed](http://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2015/08/23/commentary/japan-commentary/humanities-attack/#.VfjlirRLfkr "undefined") in the _Japan Times_ denouncing the ministry’s philosophy, calling its proposals “outrageous” and its leaders “anti-intellectuals.” She cited one member of an Education Ministry panel who purportedly claimed that humanities students at most Japanese universities should study “software programming for bookkeeping and accounting in place of Paul Samuelson’s ‘Economics,’ and the skills of orally translating between Japanese and English rather than reading Shakespeare’s works.” Others in Japanese higher education have joined in the criticism. On July 23, the executive board of the Science Council of Japan — a multidisciplinary organization of Japanese scientists — released [a statement](http://www.scj.go.jp/en/pdf/kohyo-23-kanji-1e.pdf "undefined") expressing “profound concern” over the edict against the humanities and social sciences. “Academics contribute to the creation of an intellectually and culturally enriched society … We see it as our duty to produce, enhance, and transfer in-depth and balanced accounts of knowledge about nature, the human beings, and society,” the statement read. “Thus, the \[humanities and social sciences\] make an essential contribution to academic knowledge as a whole.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4035819/japan-university-liberal-arts-humanities-social-sciences-cuts/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4035819/japan-university-liberal-arts-humanities-social-sciences-cuts/"},"headline":"Alarm Over Huge Cuts to Humanities and Social Sciences at Japanese Universities","datePublished":"2015-09-16T05:53:32.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T10:58:03.300Z","description":"The cuts, at the Education Ministry's request, have caused profound concern among academics","url":"https://time.com/4035819/japan-university-liberal-arts-humanities-social-sciences-cuts/","keywords":["Economics","Shinzo Abe","Japan","Tokyo","universities"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt50a6b53b84be6efb/698863cf5f570f28c1b1d60a/gettyimages-558230123.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nash Jenkins","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/p-nash-jenkins/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt50a6b53b84be6efb/698863cf5f570f28c1b1d60a/gettyimages-558230123.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"University Of Tokyo","caption":"University Of Tokyo","creditText":"JTB Photo—UIG/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4035819/japan-university-liberal-arts-humanities-social-sciences-cuts/","name":"Alarm Over Huge Cuts to Humanities and Social Sciences at Japanese Universities"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Japan’s Kishida Makes Surprise Visit to Ukraine as China’s Xi Visits Russia","description":"Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida began a surprise visit to Ukraine early Tuesday, hours after Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in neighboring Russia for a three-day visit. The dueling summits come as the longtime rivals are on diplomatic offensives.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/xF5LPjfT/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2023-03-21T20:47:51.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/xF5LPjfT.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4035819/japan-university-liberal-arts-humanities-social-sciences-cuts/","duration":"PT2M39S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4035819/japan-university-liberal-arts-humanities-social-sciences-cuts/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```