An Overview of Classes at UTokyo Part - II
Rahul Maroju Updated in June 2026

In this article, I'll provide more details about the classes at UTokyo in continuation to the article in Part-I.

Class Timings

Each class session lasts for 1 hour 45 minutes, which might be a bit difficult to concentrate on throughout the session. There is a 10-minute break for the next period. Generally, there are 2 classes a week for each course. So, the students have their own timetable depending on their chosen courses.

Japanese Language Courses

There is a special course for Japanese learning, but it is not mandatory. This course runs every day of the week throughout the semester, thus demanding greater dedication. Also, this will not be considered as a part of the program credits.

Course Credits Limit

A great advantage about the university is that there is no restriction on the number of credits obtained in the program. The student can enroll in any number of courses without paying an additional fee! Also, there is no limit on the number of credits taken per semester.

For example, in my case, I registered as many as 15 credits in my first semester. So, I was just left with a requirement of 1 credit for my next 3 semesters. During my second year (3rd and 4th semesters), I just had to complete the mandatory seminar course. This allowed me to focus more on my research in the 2nd year.

Difficulty Level of Courses

The quality content in the lectures made the learning interesting as well as a bit challenging at times. For English courses, sometimes it is not easy to follow the lecture as most instructors are not native. However, for many of the classes, lecture notes will be provided after the class. There are enough support and resources provided for the course content, making the content clear with efforts from the student's side. In general, the difficulty level of the courses is moderate.

Most of the courses involved making a final presentation on a specific topic applying what concepts have been taught in the lectures or just involved homework assignments, thus with less emphasis on exams. So, the focus is more on applying our knowledge to practical scenarios rather than testing the knowledge. In general, the education system in Japan focuses lesser on regular exams in school until the university entrance exam, and more on exploring different skills compared to India.

Course Evaluation

There are 3 grades – A, B, C and Fail. Not surprisingly, the university does not award a final GPA. After graduation, the academic transcript just shows your courses along with the grades for each course, without any overall score mentioned. In my opinion, evaluation is very liberal compared to universities in many other countries.

Fun fact: So, what happens if you register for a course and do not attend it? Nothing –you just won't get that credit, so no hassle of repeating to complete it again. Only the final credit count should be satisfied.

Overall Impression

The flexible program structure is a great advantage for UTokyo courses compared to many other universities. The lesser emphasis on exams is another huge relief, enabling the students to focus on their research and other interests. So overall, the classes are enjoyable and rich in learning without so much stress.