Chapter 6.1.4

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A small look at Japanese society! The Difference Between Arts and Science
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A small look at Japanese society! The Difference Between Arts and Science

You may often hear that Japanese universities are divided into liberal arts and science departments, but how obvious is it? Today, I would like to share with you what I have experienced about the difference between the arts and science faculties in Japan and its impact on future employment.

Classification of Science Groups in the Eastern Polytechnic University (now the Eastern University of Science and Technology)

Most universities in Japan have separate "Arts" and "Science" faculties, with the Arts faculty covering literature, social sciences, business, law, etc., and the Science faculty covering science, engineering, mechanics, electronics, information, architecture, and other mathematics and science-related fields. First, let's briefly introduce the organization of the University.

In October 2024, Tokyo Institute of Technology and Tokyo Medical and Dental University merged to form the Tokyo University of Science and Technology, and the method of departmental separation became as follows:

Faculty of Science and Engineering (former Faculty of Tokyo Institute of Technology)
- Faculty of Science: Department of Mathematics, Department of Physics, Department of Chemistry, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences
- College of Engineering: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Department of System Control, Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Department of Information and Communication, Department of Management Engineering
- Institute of Materials Science and Technology: Department of Materials, Department of Applied Chemistry
- School of Intelligence and Technology: Department of Mathematical and Computational Sciences, Department of Intelligence Engineering
- Life Polytechnic: Life Polytechnic
- Faculty of Environmental and Social Sciences and Technology: Department of Architecture, Department of Civil Engineering, Department of Integration Science and Technology (and, in the case of research institutes, Department of Social and Human Sciences, Department of Innovation Science, and Technical Management Specialization Degree Program).
Faculty of Dentistry (former Tokyo Medical and Dental University)
- Faculty of Medicine: Department of Medicine, Department of Health and Hygiene
- Department of Dentistry: Dentistry, Oral Health Care

Briefly, the Faculty of Science and Engineering consists of six faculties and adopts a seamless education model from bachelor's degree to doctoral degree, emphasizing that students can choose their professional direction according to their interests. The Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, comprising the Departments of Medicine and Dentistry, emphasizes the nurturing of educated and ethical healthcare professionals, and offers postgraduate programmes for students at different stages and from different perspectives, with an emphasis on cross-disciplinary collaboration and international perspectives.

Uniquely, students in the Faculty of Science and Engineering do not need to choose a department in their first year of study. They can take a wide range of general studies courses and then choose a department of interest in the second year, providing them with one year of exploration time. There is also a group of alumni and students called "Courses Counselors" on campus, which provides life guidance and planning to put students' minds at ease. In the Medical and Dental Department, students are required to select a course of study as soon as they enroll in the program and study it all the way through to graduation.

For Japanese students, deciding on a major is almost the same as deciding on a future career path, as job hunting is usually based on the field of specialization, and few people study both majors at the same time. This "specialization" mentality allows Japanese people to specialize in specific fields, but cross-field learning is rare. Mr. Murata once said, half-jokingly, "If a Japanese student succeeds in "ダブルメジャー", he or she is a genius.

Classification

Next, we will introduce the faculties of the Arts Section, and here we have chosen two universities of the Full Text Section to compare with the Eastern Polytechnic University, which is a polytechnic university.

Hitotsubashi University

In Japan, if Higashi University of Technology is the symbol of the Science Division, then Hitotsubashi University is the symbol of the Arts Division.

Hitotsubashi University, located in Tokyo, is one of the top national universities in Japan. It is known for specializing inSocial SciencesThe university is known as a "social science college" and covers the fields of economics, commerce (business), law and sociology. The university's predecessor, the Commercial Law Lecture Hall, founded by Mori Yuri in 1875, was also the first business education institution established in Japan, and has a deep historical heritage. Its main categories are the following five:

Business Department
Faculty of Economics
Faculty of Law
Department of Sociology
Department of Social and Data Sciences

Tokyo University of Foreign Studies

After looking at the faculties of Hitotsubashi University, do you feel that something is missing? Yes, it is the language department. If you want to major in language-related courses, there is another famous university: Tokyo University of Foreign Languages.

Tokyo University of Foreign Studies is located in Naka City, Tokyo Prefecture, which is a major center of foreign language education in Japan, with an environment conducive to study and research. The school is characterized byForeign Linguistics, International Sociology and Regional Cultural StudiesIt is the core of the program. It emphasizes not only the cultivation of language skills, but also the in-depth study of local cultures, history, politics and social phenomena, so as to equip students with cross-cultural understanding and thinking skills. The roots of this university can be traced back to the Shogunate era, when it was responsible for translating and researching diplomatic documents in 1857, and to the official establishment of the Tokyo Foreign Language School in 1897, which has accumulated more than 150 years of rich experience in teaching and research. The main categories are as follows:

Department of Language and Culture
Department of International Social Studies
Faculty of International Japanese Studies
Graduate School of Integrated International Studies (Graduate School), University College

Life on the Arts and Sciences Campus is very different

science student is miserable

Before the merger, the male to female ratio at EUT was about 9:1, with male students taking up the majority, which is why polytechnic students often lamented that their social life was a bit boring. The following is a conversation I had with some of the students, which highlights the envy of the students towards the life of the Cultural Affairs Section.

Part1: Exclamations from golfers

I had a conversation with my Japanese friends in the basketball club.

"There are so few girls in our school. Except for some club activities or part-time jobs, it's very difficult to meet people of the opposite sex, so I have to work with computers all day long and study hard on programs and specialized subjects." he sighs helplessly. He sighs helplessly.

"What else do you do the rest of the time?" I wondered.

"If you want to relax at night, you can just go to an izakaya and have a drink to get rid of the stress of reading intensively." He said, looking up at the sky.

"We study hard and eventually graduate and join a big company and get a steady paycheck. But it seems like the whole college life is just 'study, part-time job, and a few clubs'". sighed another player.

Part2: The Sigh of the Laboratory Dean

One day, when I walked into the study room early in the morning, I saw the seniors lying on the chairs.

"What are you up to these days? I feel like you haven't been back to the dorm for a few days again?" I was shocked when I saw him.

"It's not even experimental data. My professor wants me to run dozens of tests by next week... Why are all science students so tired?" Mr. Murata slowly sat up from the bench.

"It's been hard, haven't you been participating in club activities? Do you want to do some exercise to relax?" I asked.

"As you know, there are only a limited number of social activities at EIT, especially since the research labs are lagging behind, so I don't have any time to relax. I envy my liberal arts friends who are eating, drinking, and having fun there every day." Mr. Murata complained.

"Is it true that all Japanese literature students don't study?" I asked, puzzled. I asked.

"Well, it's almost like a day in the life." The older siblings in the lab all said the same thing.

"It's not that all liberal arts students don't work hard at all, it's just that the overall learning requirements are really lower. For example, many liberal arts college exams focus more on memorization or exposition and don't necessarily require a lot of time spent doing labs or learning programs, and some courses are so flexible that it's easy for students to muddle through," added Ms. Wada. Wada added.

liberal arts student laughs heartily (idiom); a student from the Liberal Arts Department laughs heartily

On the other hand, I know from a few liberal arts students I know at private universities in Japan, such as Waseda, Keio, and Sophia, that the pressure of their programs is relatively low; and some liberal arts students hardly need to use computers. The focus of their lives is on:

work a temporary or casual job
make friends with sb.
Occasional Word reports
Attend some light-hearted clubs (or don't attend at all) or participate in more networking events.

The following is a real conversation I had with a student in the Literature Department. I can quite understand why my fellow researchers envy the Japanese students so much.

Part1: Small and Simple Reports

I met a student from the business school of a famous private university at an exchange meeting in Taiwan and Japan.

"Are you busy with your classes?" I asked curiously. I asked curiously.

"It's okay, it's cool. I've been busy with part-time jobs and clubs in college," he said as he drank. He said as he drank.

"You work part-time or have dinner with friends every day, aren't you afraid that you won't be able to submit your report in time?" I asked, puzzled by the research that was chasing me every day.

"It's okay, our teacher only requires a 3,000 word report at the end of the semester, so you can just do a small assignment. There's still a few weeks left to procrastinate anyway." He replied flatly.

"Doesn't that make it hard for you to work on computers? For example, Excel, PowerPoint?" I asked.

"I only know basic Word, and I only copy and paste, and at most I do a bit of paragraphing, and I tried Excel, and I found it so difficult that I gave it up." He smiled helplessly.

"Really? I have to hold the computer all day every day. It's so much easier in the literature group than in the science group." I couldn't help but sigh.

Part2: Not having your own personal computer

On another occasion, I met a student from the foreign language department of another famous private university at a student exchange meeting in Taiwan and Japan.

"Do you have to write a lot of little essays in the foreign languages department?" I asked.

"It's okay, I don't have much homework. I usually finish them on the school computer," she answered me.

"On the school computer? Don't you have your own personal computer?" I asked, surprised.

"No, many things can be solved by cell phone nowadays, and few people in the department have their own computers," she said habitually. She said in a normal way.

"It's hard to imagine life without computers in Taiwan, even if most of the students in the literature section have their own computers." I mumbled.

"If there are too many people using the computers at school during midterms and finals, they'll use the computers shared by the family at home." she added. She added.

"It's hard to imagine a time when people didn't have personal computers." I thought to myself.

Later, I realized that many students in the Arts Section are more interested in taking part in activities to develop their social skills than in classroom knowledge, or in taking examinations to enhance their competitiveness. Therefore, we should not generalize and say that all students in the Arts Section are playing around, but those who are motivated will use other methods to enhance their abilities.

What's the difference between the arts and sciences?

There is a saying that "Japan is still a culture of liberal arts." In terms of the overall social division of labor and salaries (the table below), for many years, large Japanese corporations with high incomes tend to be in the news media, trading companies, finance and insurance, consulting firms, etc., and most of these industries are hiring people with a liberal arts background.

In Japan, business management, finance, and business negotiation are fields that emphasize "relationships" and "social skills," and require a great deal of linguistic and clerical skills. On the other hand, although polytechnic fields are also very important in Japan, they are mostly concentrated in manufacturing and construction companies, and therefore do not necessarily rank high in terms of salary.

rankings	Company Name	Average annual income (ten thousand yen)	Average age (歳)
1	Mitsubishi Corporation	Approximately 2,090	42.7
2	Keyence	About 2,067	35.2
3	Hulic (ヒューリック)	Approximately 1,907	38.7
4	Mitsui & Co.	Approx. 1,900	42.3
5	ITOCHU Corporation	Approximately 1,823	42.3
6	Sumitomo Corporation	Approximately 1,809	40.8
7	Itochu Marubeni Steel	Approximately 1,808	40.3
8	MOSAIC Mitsui (Japanese company)	Approximately 1,741	38.5
9	landowner	Approximately 1,718	38.8
10	Disco (ディスコ)	Approximately 1,715	40.0

Source. The average annual income is high in the 100 companies in the program.

However, if polytechnic graduates can enter the fields of high technology, semiconductor, AI, R&D, etc., they will also have good prospects for development. In particular, there are some cutting-edge technologies or start-ups that need in-depth polytechnic talents who can use their "unique R&D capabilities" to develop the market. Although competition is fierce, once you get a good job, your future development will be quite stable. In particular, foreign IT companies are one of the most popular choices for many foreigners looking for work in Japan.

rankings	Company Name	Average annual income (ten thousand yen)	Average age (歳)
1	Nippon Mikrosoft Corporation (Microsoft)	Approximately 1,484	40.9
2	Google	Approx. 1,150	35.1
3	Amazonia Japon Contracting Company (Amazon)	About 956	35.8
4	Apple Japan Contracts, Inc.	About 678	34.4

Source. The latest edition of 2025] Annual Incentives of Foreign-invested IT Companies! Turning to a new job is a good idea.

We'll be alive when the seniors start running.¹When I was a student, I would occasionally take part to see how they found a job.

"I've been going to school for a long time, but in the end, it's easier to get a high salary as a liberal arts student, so of course, parents would rather have their kids go to the liberal arts department of a prestigious private school like Waseda or Keio," complained Mr. Murata and Mr. Nagata. Mr. Murata and Mr. Nagata complained.

"I really envy those liberal arts students who have fun all day long, drinking and making friends every day, and don't seem to have any pressure." I remembered a conversation I had with a group of students.

"However, the competition for them to get a job is even more fierce, especially in big companies where so many students with liberal arts backgrounds rush to get a job.²It's very high. Science and engineering can at least rely on accumulated expertise and with some qualifying exams, it's not too bad to find a job that matches your field of study," he said. Mr. Murata said.

"At least we'll be able to use our professions to get a specific job for a living." I agreed.

"Although it's true that Japanese companies prefer liberal arts students who are good at socializing and negotiating, it doesn't mean that they can't get in with science and engineering. If you have a background in program development, many start-up companies need this kind of talent." added Kida. Ms. Kida added.

"And, in fact, in our lab, we can even use the university's recommendation."³I'm going to join a big company! Mr. Honda added.

After the explanation of the seniors, you can use the following table to show the two ways to find a job, as a foreign science and engineering students, there are schools recommend this system really gives me a strong heart, the future is not afraid of the language problem in Japan can not find a job.

Project	School Recommendation (School Recommendation)	Freelance (Freelance Application)
definition	The company provides the school (department, program, subject, or concentration) with a recommendation for a place to apply through the school's recommendation.	Students apply directly to companies without the need for school intervention.
Corporate Relationships	The University has a long history of solid corporate relationships and is often recommended by good corporations.	There is no restriction on the type of business, you can apply on your own.
Application Process	Application must be made on campus with a letter of recommendation issued by the placement instructor and department chair.	Apply directly to the company without a reference letter (some companies may ask for additional references at a later stage).
Recommended Conditions	Must meet the competency and suitability standards of the organization. Recommendation does not guarantee acceptance.	The application conditions are independent and are prepared according to the company's requirements.
Refused	The principle of not easily rejecting the internalization is to maintain the trust between the school and the company.	Free to accept or reject inclusions, but it is not advisable to keep more than one inclusions for a long period of time.
Application Restrictions	You cannot apply for more than one recommendation at the same time, and there is a limit to the number of applicants who can apply for in-school selection.	There is no limit on the number of companies that can apply and the number of scheduled dismissals.
Selection Schedule	Usually start late and apply at the school's designated time.	Usually starts earlier and can be booked in advance.
Recommended Books	Applications must be supported by a school reference.	Most do not require references, and some use a post-paid referral system.
Regulatory Restrictions	No special restrictions.	The Government prohibits the mandatory signing of built-in undertakings or post-paid references to prevent "terminal intimidation".
Scope of Application	It is mainly used for referral quotas for the cooperation between ETI and its enterprises.	Applicable to all corporate positions that are free to apply.
Key Benefits	Corporate referrals, higher acceptance rate, and reputation building for the school.	Freedom to apply for more than one business according to one's wish.
Risks	No rejection after finalization, high risk of default.	Competition is fierce and you need to prepare and respond on your own.
Common Business Types	The traditional large and good companies are the main ones.	All types of enterprises are eligible to apply, including emerging or foreign-invested enterprises.
Supplementary mechanism	-	Some companies use the "Job Matching" (ジョブマッチング) mechanism for two-way recognition.

Trivia

Japan does have a "liberal arts/science divide": science and engineering students are busy, have a narrow social circle, and lead a more monotonous life, while liberal arts students are freer and live a more relaxed life, but are more competitive after graduation. Society generally favors the liberal arts, especially in the high-paying and large-company fields, but science students can get good jobs if they specialize in their field.

I would say that every choice has its pros and cons, and there is no absolute good or bad. As a polytechnic, I don't regret my choice. Although it was a difficult process, I have clear professional skills that liberal arts students don't necessarily have. Japanese companies are increasingly looking for people who are flexible in utilizing technology and creativity across a wide range of fields.

If you are confused about your future, you may want to orient yourself: do you want to specialize in one field? Or do you want to enjoy multi-faceted development? No matter in arts or science, if you work hard, you can find your own stage.

Annotation Area

Inauguration (しゅうかつ)：Simplified as "就職活動", Chinese for "求職活動", it is a systematic process from self-analysis, company research to selection preparation, aiming to find a job that suits one's needs and to be accepted by the company. The aim is to find a job that suits you and get hired by the company. Understand the selection timetable of different types of companies, and in the process of preparation, in addition to mastering basic business etiquette and good appearance, emphasize on psychological quality and information gathering, avoid mismatch between career and company, and maintain a positive mindset is the driving force of the continuous challenge. ︎
Employment multiplier (しゅうしょくばいりつ): Employment multiplier is the ratio of the number of applicants to the number of available applicants for the job, reflecting the level of competition for the job. A higher multiplier means that there is more competition for the job, making it more difficult to get hired, while a lower multiplier means that there is less competition. This data is often used to assess the employment situation of enterprises or industries, and to help students understand the competition in the job market, so that they can make more reasonable career choices and preparations. ︎
University recommendation (せいせん)：Generally speaking, companies will set up a recommendation quota for each university (or department). If a student is determined or has a strong desire to join a company, he/she can apply for a letter of recommendation from the professor in charge of recommendation. After some examination, if the applicant's qualifications are judged suitable for the position in the company, a formal letter of recommendation will be issued, and the student who has submitted the letter of recommendation and has been accepted by the company (offer) may not, in principle, be withdrawn from the company. ︎