<figure id="attachment_417565" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-417565" style="width: 2000px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="fdfd8ab6"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/03/d651abac999107f0480cadec139af9b0.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-417565" class="wp-caption-text">One of the symbols of Todai. Red Gate of Hongo Campus</figcaption></figure>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> There is an impression that difficult girls&#8217; schools, such as Sakurain (Tokyo), one of the three top-ranked schools in Japan, are struggling. On the other hand, Shibuya Kyoiku Gakuen Makuhari (Chiba, Japan) and Shibuya Kyoiku Gakuen Shibuya (Tokyo, Japan) are also struggling. On the other hand, co-ed schools such as Shibuya Kyoiku Gakuen Makuhari (Chiba; hereafter Shibumaku) and Shibuya Kyoiku Gakuen Shibuya (Tokyo; hereafter Shibu Shibu) are struggling. On the other hand, co-ed schools such as Shibuya Kyoiku Gakuen Makuhari (Chiba, Japan) and Shibuya Kyoiku Gakuen Shibuya (Tokyo, Japan) are growing. It is likely that girls are becoming more interested in co-ed schools.</span></p>
<p> says Nobuyasu Morigami, director of the Morigami Education Research Institute and an expert on entrance examinations.</p>
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<p> This year, too, the number of students accepted to Tokyo University by high school was announced (as of March 13 in a joint survey by Daigaku Tsushin, Sunday Mainichi, and AERA). While Kaisei (Tokyo) has topped the list for 44 consecutive years (149 students), the ranking has drastically changed from 30 years ago when the parents&#8217; generation took the entrance exam. We would like to introduce the rise and fall of high schools by comparing the past and this year&#8217;s results&#8211;.</p>
<p> Mr. Morigami mentioned <span class="strongInContent">Sakurain, whose</span> number of students accepted to Tokyo University this year decreased from 72 in 1995 (30 years ago) to 48 (hereafter, the numbers are from 1995 and this year). On the other hand, <span class="strongInContent">Shibumaku</span> and <span class="strongInContent">Shibushibu</span> have made great strides, from 3 to 74 and from 0 to 50 respectively. Mr. Morigami explains the background (remarks below by Mr. Morigami).</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> At universities</span><span class="strongInContent"> There has been a continuing shift away from women&#8217;s colleges. Even in junior high and high schools, this trend has been noticeable in the middle-ranked schools so far. As adolescent girls, they are probably more attracted to girls&#8217; schools where they can spend their school life without worrying about the opposite sex, as well as to difficult co-educational schools that are increasing their Tokyo University results.&#8221;</span></p>
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<h2> Kanagawa&#8217;s Top Three Boys&#8217; Schools Make Their Presence Known</h2>
<p> The three boys&#8217; schools in Kanagawa are gaining momentum. <span class="strongInContent">Seikogakuin</span> (38 to 95), <span class="strongInContent">Eiko Gakuen</span> (70 to 55), and <span class="strongInContent">Asano</span> (22 to 51) are showing their presence.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> Students at these schools are attending cram schools and taking a &#8220;W-school&#8221; system because of the influence of their surroundings. It is extremely burdensome for them to balance school and cram school. In the three major boys&#8217; schools in Kanagawa Prefecture, cram school attendance has not become mainstream. It has the advantage of allowing them to concentrate on their schoolwork.&#8221;</span></p>
<p> In Kanagawa, <span class="strongInContent">Senzoku Gakuen</span> has made remarkable progress (from 0 to 28 students).</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> The school is a girls&#8217; school in the same vein as Senzoku Gakuen College of Music, and for more than a decade it has been working diligently to reform its school, hoping to overtake Ferris (a prestigious girls&#8217; school in Kanagawa). The school stopped accepting applications for the high school, which had a deviation score of about 40, and abolished the music department. The school actively accepted returnees from abroad. The school&#8217;s good location along the Denentoshi Line in Kanagawa has attracted excellent students from Tokyo as well.</span></p>
<p> On the contrary, there are schools in the same Kanagawa area that have had harsh results.</p>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" Why results at Toin Gakuen and Sugamo are so severe"></div>
<h2>The lost centripetal force of a one-man management</h2>
<p> Toin Gakuen is a strong sports school (107 students to 6).</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> The school&#8217;s chancellor, Noboru Ukawa, led the school for many years. He was a one-man manager who led a mammoth school of about 1,600 students per school year with a policy of quality over quantity. The school lost its centripetal force. The school&#8217;s popularity gradually declined, partly due to the inconvenient location of the school, which can only be reached by bus from the nearest station.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent">Sugamo,</span> once ranked second only to Tokyo&#8217;s top three boys&#8217; schools, has <span class="strongInContent">also</span> seen an unstoppable decline in the number of successful applicants. 30 years ago, 63 students were accepted to Tokyo University, but this year, only one has been accepted. &#8230;&#8230;</p>
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<p><span class="strongInContent"> The school&#8217;s image was that of a hard-core school, with students swimming in loincloths, but the school culture has softened considerably. However, the school moved to a bad location for several years starting in &#8217;12 to build a new school building, which had a great impact. Students who took the entrance exam for the school avoided it. I have the impression that excellent students were lost to Hongo (from 2 to 15), another boys&#8217; school in the neighborhood. However, the school still has a high track record in medical school admissions. The school is actively reforming itself, so I am sure it will make a comeback in a few years.&#8221;</span></p>
<p> Former results and name recognition do not reflect the present. The ability of high schools changes from year to year.</p>
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 This year again, the number of students accepted to the University of Tokyo by high school was announced. The ranking has drastically changed from 30 years ago when the parents' generation took the entrance exam. Senzoku Gakuen went from 0 to 28. Sugamo went from 63 to 1. This is a story of the rise and fall of high schools as seen by the number of students who were accepted to Tokyo University.

 The ranking has drastically changed since the time when my parents' generation took the entrance exam!

Duck school is down from 63 to 1&#8230;Senzoku Gakuen is making great strides! The Rise and Fall of 30 Years of High Schools that Passed the University of Tokyo&#8221;: The Background to the Struggles of Difficult Girls&#8217; Schools such as Sakurain

Duck school is down from 63 to 1…Senzoku Gakuen is making great strides! The Rise and Fall of 30 Years of High Schools that Passed the University of Tokyo”: The Background to the Struggles of Difficult Girls’ Schools such as Sakurain

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