Editing University of Tokyo (section)

==== University of Tokyo Struggles ====
{{Main article|1968–1969 Japanese university protests}}
[[File:Yasuda Auditorium - Tokyo University 4.jpg|thumb|[[Yasuda Auditorium]] became the main site of fierce clashes between protesters and riot police.]]
The 1960s saw an intensification of student protests across the world, including the [[Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War|Anti-Vietnam War protests]] and the [[May 68|May 68 events]] in France. This zeitgeist of the era was prominently felt in Japan as well, symbolised by the [[Anpo protests|1960 Anpo protests]], in which the death of a UTokyo student, [[Michiko Kanba|Michiko Kamba]], caused public outrage. In 1968, the {{Nihongo|University of Tokyo Struggles|東大紛争|Tōdai Funsō}} began with medical students demanding improvements in internship conditions, in which medical students were forced to work long hours without being paid before being licensed as a doctor.

The conflict intensified with the indefinite strike decision by the students in January 1968 and escalated further following a clash between the students and faculty. Tensions peaked when radical students, most of whom were members of the [[Zenkyōtō]] (the All-Campus Joint Struggle Committees), occupied [[Yasuda Auditorium]], leading the university to eventually call in [[riot police]] in June— a move seen as abandoning university autonomy. Efforts to resolve the situation began with the resignation of university executives and the appointment of Ichiro Kato as interim president, who started negotiations. The conflict largely ended in January 1969 after a full-scale police operation to remove the occupying students. This operation involved more than 8,500 riot police officers confronting students who fought back with [[Molotov cocktail]]s and marble stones taken from the auditorium's interior.<ref>{{Cite web |title=9章 東大紛争-ビジュアル年表(戦後70年)：朝日新聞デジタル |url=http://www.asahi.com/special/sengo/visual/page41.html |access-date=2023-12-09 |website=www.asahi.com}}</ref> Prime Minister [[Eisaku Satō|Eisaku Sato]], who was an alumnus of UTokyo himself, visited the site the day after the protesters in the auditorium were forcibly removed, and decided to cancel that year's admission process. This led top highschool students to apply reluctantly to other universities such as [[Kyoto University]] and [[Hitotsubashi University]], resulting in many applicants who would have been admitted to those universities under normal circumstances failing to gain admission, since applicants are not allowed to apply to multiple prestigious national universities in Japan.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-08-27 |title=東大入試中止、そのとき受験生は——コロナ禍を超える1969年大学入試の混乱 |url=https://dot.asahi.com/articles/-/85694 |access-date=2023-12-09 |website=AERA dot. (アエラドット) |language=ja}}</ref> The aftermath saw 633 prosecutions, and varied sentences, marking a turbulent chapter in the university's history.<ref>{{Cite web |title=テレビで生中継された重大事件簿「東大安田講堂事件」／ホームメイト |url=https://www.homemate-research-tv-station.com/useful/12382_facil_085/ |access-date=2024-04-10 |website=www.homemate-research-tv-station.com}}</ref>