Saitama University is the only national university in Saitama Prefecture, which borders the north of the Tokyo metropolitan area. The University is located in the western outskirts of Saitama City, the capital of Saitama Prefecture. Saitama City is thriving with more than one million inhabitants; it is the largest municipality in the northern Kanto region.
As seen in the aerial photograph on page 1, the Okubo campus of Saitama University provides an excellent environment for learning and research with many trees of various kinds surrounding each university building. The campus can be reached in only one hour by train and bus from Japan Railways Tokyo Station, a landmark of the central part of Tokyo.
The University has five faculties (schools) for undergraduate education -Liberal Arts, Education, Economics, Science, and Engineering- and four graduate schools -Cultural Science, Education, Economic Science, and Science and Engineering-, all offering programs leading to doctorates as well as master’s degrees. The total enrollment of undergraduate students was 7,496, and that of graduate students 1,225 in the academic year 2003-2004, including students from abroad. The total number of full-time faculty members was about 470 in the same period.

Since its foundation in 1987, the Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology (RCAST) has been engaged in leading-edge research activities based on the four key principles of "interdisciplinary approach," "mobility," "international perspective" and "openness." Concurrently, RCAST has continued to make pioneering attempts to improve the management of its operations.

On April 1, 2001, the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (the new AIST) began operations. AIST is a newly formed research organization that is the result of an amalgamation of the 15 research institutes previously under the former Agency of Industrial Science and Technology (the former AIST) in the Ministry of International Trade and Industry and the Weights and Measures Training Institute. The new AIST is Japan's largest public research organization with many research facilities and around 3,200 employees in all.

The objectives of RIKEN are to conduct comprehensive research in science and technology (excluding only humanities and social sciences) under the "RIKEN Law", and to disseminate the results of its scientific research and technological developments. RIKEN carries out high level experimental and research work in a wide range of fields, including physics, chemistry, medical science, biology, and engineering extending from basic research to practical application.
This institute was first founded in 1917 (Taisho 6) as a private research foundation known as "RIKEN". In 2003, it was reorganized as an Independent Administrative Institution under the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, since when it has engaged in wide-ranging research activities that span basic to applied science.

Under The National School Establishment Law, Hiroshima University was established on May 31, 1949. After World War II, the school system in Japan was entirely reformed and each of the institutions of higher education under the pre-war system was reorganized. As a general rule, one national university was established in each prefecture, and Hiroshima University became a national university under the new system by combining the various pre-war higher educational institutions in Hiroshima Prefecture.

The new university combined eight component institutions: Hiroshima University of Literature and Science, Hiroshima School of Secondary Education, Hiroshima School of Education, Hiroshima Women's School of Secondary Education, Hiroshima School of Education for Youth, Hiroshima Higher School, Hiroshima Higher Technical School, and Hiroshima Municipal Higher Technical School. Later in 1953, the Hiroshima Prefectural Medical College was also added to the new Hiroshima University.