Plan Afloat For Chuo’s “Comeback” to Urban Center

A Visit to Korakuen Campus

   The Korakuen campus is where Chuo’s faculty of science and engineering is located. It is the only urban campus for the school’s undergraduates. Those of other faculties who study at the Tama campus tend to even forget about its existence. Having heard about the relocation plan, this reporter visited the Korakuen campus, a hidden and mysterious place for many Tama campus students.

 

 Korakuen is in Tokyo’s Bunkyo Ward. The location is convenient as it is only a five-minute walk from Korakuen Station on the subway Marunouchi Line. It is way different from the Tama campus, where students have to rely on exorbitantly expensive Tama Monorail. There are many restaurants and amusement facilities such as Tokyo Dome City nearby. Being a student from the Tama campus surrounded by hills, I felt envious of such convenience.


 There is Chuo University High School right next to the gate of the Korakuen campus. I saw many high-school students walking around in their school uniform. It is easy to walk round the campus. Compared to the vast Tama campus, it is much smaller in size. The campus has a cafeteria, library and co-op shop but they are all small and compact. It also has a dedicated ward for student clubs but it is too small to be called as such. It just looks like an ordinary private house.

 What surprised me most was the abundance of male students on the campus. I walked into the cafeteria and found almost 90% of the students there were male. When I interviewed students, many of them said the Korakuen campus is so small that events like school festivals lack liveliness and that it will be best if all faculties are put together on the same campus. Others welcomed the relocation of the Tama campus to the city center, saying they would have more chances to meet female students.


 Whether the relocation will actually happen remains to be seen. But after my visit, I could see why more applicants prefer universities in the urban center which are easier to attend and have better amenity. Especially after this visit, I personally regretted not having chosen an urban university.

 

 I do hope that Chuo University will come back to the urban center and regain the verdure it enjoyed when it was located at the Surugadai campus.

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