AY2025 Admission Guide

for Department of Creative Informatics

Graduate School of
Information Science and Technology
The University of Tokyo
Examinations Conducted in AY2024

Contact: Department Administration Office

7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656

University of Tokyo Graduate School of Engineering / Information Science
Office of Academic Affairs Division
Department Team (Department of Creative Informatics)
TEL: 03-5841-6889
office@ci.i.u-tokyo.ac.jp
Department’s website for Entrance Examinations:
Visit https://www.i.u-tokyo.ac.jp/index_e.shtml
Admissions > Departments and Faculty > Creative Informatics > Admissions

Note 1: In addition to this document, carefully read Admission Guide for Graduate School of
Information Science and Technology (read the guide for the applicant’s program: Master’s program,
Doctoral program, or Doctoral program [Special Selection for Professionals]), as well as the
Guidelines for Submission of TOEFL Scores.

Note 2: The Department of Creative Informatics conducts Summer entrance examinations and Winter
entrance examinations for both the Master’s and Doctoral programs. Summer and Winter entrance
examinations differ in schedules, examination subjects, and examination methods.

Note 3: Successful applicants may be allowed October 2024 entry for Summer entrance examinations
and April 2025 entry for Winter entrance examinations (hereafter referred to as “Early Entrance”) if
applicants indicate this preference on the application form.
1. Message for applicants

The Department of Creative Informatics is the newest department within the comparatively new
Graduate School of Information Science and Technology. It was founded in 2005. The Department of
Creative Informatics currently incorporates aspects of five fields: Computer Science, Mathematical
Informatics, Information Physics and Computing, Information and Communication Engineering, and
Mechano-Informatics. The educational philosophy is “To refine practical creativity for realizing
outstanding ideas, through creative practices over interdisciplinary fields.” To achieve this goal, the
Department will combine projects and advanced personnel training, and will promote collaborations
among industry, government, and academia aimed at human resource cultivation. We hope that
students completing this Department's program will play a leading role in the field of information
technology.
2. Master’s program
2.1 Examination schedules and examination subjects
i) Summer entrance examination
(1) Document screening
Document screening will be conducted based on the submitted documents. Regarding the notification
of the screening, refer to Admission Guide for Graduate School.

(2) General education subjects

Applicants must select either Mathematics or Programming at the time of application.
Those who are absent from the examination in the general education subject are considered to have
withdrawn from the entrance examination.

Subject Date and location Description

Mathematics Refer to Admission Guide for Graduate School

Friday, August 16, 2024 The basic skills of programming are

13:00 – 15:30 examined. The applicants must bring
their own laptop PCs and write
programs for the given topics. They
Programming School of Engineering; Bldg. No. 6
may use their preferred programming
(tentative)
languages.
(Details will be posted on the
Answering time is 150 minutes in
website by the day of the
total.
examination)
Notes: A programming environment must be installed in the laptop PCs used during the programming
examination. The applicants may use documents, source programs, libraries, and other resources
stored in the PC. Connecting the PC to any network is prohibited during the examination. Confirm
that the PC can read from and write to a USB flash drive (type A). The applicants can bring and use a
mouse. The applicants can use a two-pronged power outlet.

(3) Foreign language

TOEFL Scores will be used to evaluate the applicants’ English skills. For details, refer to
“Guidelines for Submission of TOEFL Scores (for AY2025 Entrance Examinations)”.

(4) Specialized subjects

Applicants shall select one of the following five specialized subjects at the time of application.
The applicants not selecting Creative Informatics should find out the details by referring to the
Admission Guide for the corresponding department. Those who are absent from the examination in
the specialized subjects are considered to have withdrawn from the entrance examination.
 Subject Dates and locations Description
Monday, August 19, 2024 Applicants solve three problems in
13:00 – 15:30 the fields related to software and
School of Engineering Bldg., algorithms, computer hardware,
Creative Informatics No. 6 (tentative) information systems, and other
(Details will be posted on the related fields.
website by the day of the Answering time is 150 minutes in
examination) total.

Computer Science Refer to Admission Guide for Department of Computer Science.

Refer to Admission Guide for Department of Mathematical

Mathematical Informatics
Informatics.
Information Physics and Refer to Admission Guide for Department of Information Physics
Computing and Computing.
Information and Refer to Admission Guide for Department of Information and
Communication Engineering Communication Engineering.

(5) Oral examination

The oral examination is conducted online on Wednesday, August 21, 2024 (when the examination
starts and ends depends on the number of applicants). The oral examination schedule will be posted
on the website by the day of the examination. In the oral examination, applicants will be asked about
the issues such as the written examinations, current research topics, and a research plan at the graduate
school.

ii) Winter entrance examination

(1) Document screening
Document screening will be conducted based on the submitted documents. Regarding the notification
of the screening, refer to Admission Guide for Graduate School.

(2) General education subject

The applicants must select programming for Winter entrance examination unlike Summer entrance
examination. Those who are absent from the examination in the general education subject are
considered to have withdrawn from the entrance examination.
Subject Dates and location Description
Friday, January 31, 2025
13:00 – 15:30
Refer to the description
Programming for Summer entrance
School of Engineering; Bldg. No. 6 (tentative) examination.
(Details will be posted on the website by the
day of the examination)
Note: Refer to the description for Summer entrance examination
(3) Foreign language
TOEFL Scores will be used to evaluate the applicants’ English skills. For details, refer to “Guidelines
for Submission of TOEFL Scores (for AY2025 Entrance Examinations)”.

(4) Specialized subject

Unlike the Summer entrance examination, applicants cannot take examinations for the specialized
subjects of other departments. Those who are absent from the written examination are considered to
have withdrawn from the entrance exam.
Subject Dates and location Description
Creative Thursday, January 30, 2025 Refer to the description for
Informatics 13:00 – 15:30 Summer entrance
School of Engineering, Bldg. No.6 (tentative) examination.
(Details will be posted on the website by the
day of the examination)

(5) Oral examination

The oral examination is conducted online on Monday, February 3, 2025 (when the examination starts
and ends depends on the number of applicants). The oral examination schedule will be posted on the
website by the day of the examination. In the oral examination, applicants will be asked about the
issues such as the written examinations, current research topics, and a research plan at the graduate
school.

2.2 Submission of Research Plan

Applicants must submit a pdf document of Research Plan along with other application materials,
clearly describing the research field you want to study, the reason for your application, the research
plan after your enrollment, and your past activities and achievements. It must be one page of A4-size
paper. Figures and tables may be included but if an external URL is included, it will not be used at the
examinations.
3. Doctoral program / Doctoral program [Special Selection for Professionals]

3.1 Examination schedules

i) Summer entrance examination
(1) Primary examination

Subject Dates and location Description

Specialized subject Monday, August 19, 2024 Applicants solve three problems
Creative Informatics 13:00 – 15:30 in the fields related to software
School of Engineering Bldg., No. 6 and algorithms, computer
(tentative) hardware, and information
systems, and other related fields.
(Details will be posted on the website
by the day of the examination) Answering time is 150 minutes in
total.
Oral examination Tuesday, August 20, 2024 Applicants give a presentation on
their Master’s thesis or its
(When the number of applicants is alternative and doctoral research
large, the examination may be also plans (about 20 min.; slides can
held on Thursday, August 22. When be used), and then they are asked
the examination starts and ends questions on the presentation and
depends on the number of applicants.) other issues.

The oral examination is conducted

online. Its schedule will be posted on
the website by the day of the
examination.
Notes:
(a) TOEFL Scores will be used to evaluate the applicants’ English skills. For details, refer to
“Guidelines for Submission of TOEFL Scores (for AY2025 Entrance Examinations)”.
(b) Applicants are exempted from submitting the TOEFL Scores and taking the examination in
specialized subjects if they have graduated or they are expected to complete Master's program at
Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, The University of Tokyo.

(2) Secondary examination

The secondary examination is conducted during the days for Winter examination. It is an oral
examination. The applicants who have passed the primary examination will be informed later of the
details. According to the given instructions, submit a master's thesis (not necessarily the final version)
or its alternative by the time of the oral examination. If the applicants are master students at
Department of Creative Informatics, in principle, their secondary examinations are conducted from
Thursday, January 23 to Friday, January 24, 2025. For applicants who wish to enter the graduate school
in October 2024, and those who wish to enter in April 2025 but have completed or are expected to
complete a Master’s or Professional degree program by September 30, 2024, the secondary
examinations will be conducted together during the oral examination for the primary examinations.
ii) Winter entrance examination
The primary and secondary examinations are conducted during the period from Thursday, January 30
to Monday, February 3, 2025, excluding Saturday and Sunday. Only a limited number of applicants
will be accepted. The examination method will be the same as the method for Summer entrance
examination. For the details of the examination in the specialized subject, refer to the corresponding
examination for Winter entrance examination for the Master’s program.

3.2 Submission documents for the Doctoral program

The prospective applicants for the Doctoral program should make close contact with their prospective
faculty advisor before the application period. Applicants must submit their Research Plan along with
other application materials. For the details of Research Plan, refer to “2.2 Submission of Research
Plan” for the Master’s program. A faculty advisor will be immediately assigned to an applicant (but
subject to change) when he/she passes the primary examination.

3.3 Submission documents for the Doctoral program [Special Selection for Professionals]
In addition to Research Plan written in 3.2, the applicants must submit a one- or two-page A4-size
document, which summarizes major achievements during their employment.
 The University of Tokyo Graduate School of Information Science and
Technology, Department of Creative Informatics
Faculty Advisors and Concurrent Faculty Advisors (as of April 2024)
Select your advisor(s) among the faculty members in this list, and enter your selection (up to ten for
master's program, one for doctoral program) through the Web application system.

Faculty Advisors
Professor Shigeru Chiba
Programming Languages, Software Infrastructure
Professor Takeo Igarashi
User Interface, Computer Graphics
Professor Kunihiko Sadakane
Algorithms and Data Structures, Big Data Processing
Professor Hiroshi Saruwatari
Speech and Acoustic Information Processing, Statistical Signal Processing,
Machine Learning
Professor Hiroshi Esaki
Smart Internet, Sensor Network
Professor Kei Okada
Everyday Life Robotics, Robot System Software
Associate Professor Hideki Nakayama
Machine Perception, Natural Language Processing, Machine Learning
Associate Professor Ryota Shioya
Computer Architecture, System Software, Information Security
Associate Professor Manabu Tsukada
Computer Network, Cyber Physical Systems
Associate Professor Nobuyuki Umetani
Computer Graphics, Physics Simulation
Associate Professor Tomoharu Ugawa
System Software, Programming Language, Concurrency, Embedded Systems

Concurrent Faculty Advisors who belong to other departments

Professor Yusuke Miyao (Dept. of Computer Science)
Natural Language Processing, Computational Linguistics
Professor Tsuyoshi Takagi (Dept. of Mathematical Informatics)
Mathematical Cryptography, Applied Cryptography
Professor Hiroshi Nakamura (Dept. of Information Physics & Computing)
Computer System, IoT/Cyber-Physical System, Computer Architecture
Professor Kenjiro Taura (Dept. of Information & Communication Engineering)
Parallel and distributed computing, programming languages, big data processing,
high-performance computing, and their applications
Professor Tatsuya Harada (Dept. of Mechano-Informatics)
Computer Vision，Machine Learning，Real-world Intelligent Information Processing
Associate Professor Masaki Ito (Social ICT Research Center)
Traffic Informatics, Cyber-physical Systems, Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS),
Human-computer Interaction
 Concurrent Faculty Advisors who belong to other departments
Research Natural Language Processing,
name Yusuke Miyao
Fields Computational Linguistics
Our group conducts research in the field of natural language processing and computational
linguistics. Humans communicate, understand information, and behave using natural language.
Our goal is to clarify how this works by making full use of mathematical models and linguistic
theories. Specifically, our research is focused on the following areas.
- Syntactic and semantic analysis, semantic inference: computing the structure and meaning of
sentences in natural language.
- Grounding: connecting the meaning of natural language with real-world data such as images
and numerical data.
- Dialogue systems: building computer systems that use natural language to exchange
information.

Research Mathematical Cryptography,

name Tsuyoshi Takagi
Fields Applied Cryptography

We investigate the theory and practice of cryptography which underpins the security of our
information society.
(1)Mathematical Cryptography: We study post-quantum cryptography based on the
mathematical problems (such as coding theory, lattice theory, multivariate polynomials, graph
theory, etc), which are computationally intractable even in the era of quantum computing.
(2)Applied Cryptography: We are engaged in the development of new efficient cryptographic
algorithms and implementation secure against physical attacks, which can be used in our life,
for example, copyright protection, electronic voting, cryptocurrency, and so on.

Research Computer System, IoT/Cyber-Physical System,

name Hiroshi Nakamura
Fields Computer Architecture

We mainly address high-performance, dependable, and low-power computer system to realize

advanced interaction between physical and cyber worlds.
- IoT/Cyber-Physical System: Optimization of total computer systems by integrating sensors
and server systems in IoT world.
- Ultra Low Power Computer System: Ultra low power VLSI systems and high-performance
and low-power computing through co-optimization between circuit technology, computer
architecture, system software, and algorithm.
 Research Parallel and distributed computing, programming
name Kenjiro Taura Fields languages, big data processing, high-performance
computing, and their applications

(Visit our homepage at https://tinyurl.com/taulab) Central topics of Taura group are software
to deliver high-performance computing to everyone and high-performance applications. A
pillar is designing programmer-friendly programming languages or libraries and their high-
performance implementations with SIMD, multicores, GPUs, and supercomputers. The
challenge is to attain both productivity and performance on complex hardware. They include
domain-specific systems for machine learning, pattern extractions and N-body problems,
general-purpose systems for load balancing and distributed shared memory and libraries for
special-purpose hardware such as digital annealer (digital implementation of quantum
annealer). Another pillar is big data processing and its applications. They include mining of
company home pages for finding good business succession and analysis of electronic medical
records for reducing medical accidents, around which we are seeking good synergies with
research on machine learning frameworks and/or big data processing.

Research Computer Vision，Machine Learning，

name Tatsuya Harada
Fields Real-world Intelligent Information Processing

Our laboratory focuses on machine intelligence. Our goal is to invent hyper-intelligent systems
by combining useful but infinite information in the physical space with a huge amount of data
and powerful computational resources in the cyberspace. To tackle this challenging problem,
we utilize all resources in the area of computer science including machine learning, computer
vision, natural language processing and robotics.

Traffic Informatics, Cyber-physical Systems,

Research
name Masaki Ito Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS), Human-
Fields
computer Interaction
Ito Laboratory at the Social ICT Research Center conducts research to create advanced
mobility systems through information technology. We are conducting practical research
including traffic sensing, optimization of traffic signals, simulation of human and vehicle
traffic, large-scale spatio-temporal data processing platforms, big data analysis of various
traffic data, optimization of bus schedules and routes, and behavior change technology of
people and vehicles. We welcome students who are interested in social issues such as urban
planning and management of depopulated areas, students who are (or have been) interested in
railroads, buses, automobiles, and other vehicles, and students who wish to conduct practical
research using real data and real fields in collaboration with companies and local governments.
 Department-specific Conditions on Submitted Documents
For other conditions on submitted documents common to all the departments, check the Admission
Guide of the Graduate School.

List of Department-Specific Documents:

Summer Examination Winter Examination

Who to Who to
Documents to be Submitted Documents to be Submitted
Submit Submit

Master's All All

Research Plan (1 page in A4-size) Research Plan (1 page in A4-size)
Program Applicants Applicants

Doctoral All All

Research Plan (1 page in A4-size) Research Plan (1 page in A4-size)
Program Applicants Applicants

All All
Research Plan (1 page in A4-size) Research Plan (1 page in A4-size)
Doctoral Program Applicants Applicants
<Special Selection Major achievement during Major achievement during
for Professionals> All All
employment (no more than 2 pages in employment (no more than 2 pages in
Applicants Applicants
A4-size） A4-size）

Department-specific Conditions on TOEFL Scores:

Summer Examination Winter Examination

Master's
All Applicants All Applicants
Program
All applicants except those who have completed (or All applicants except those who have completed (or
Doctoral are expected to complete) a master’s program in the are expected to complete) a master’s program in the
Program Graduate School of Information Science and Graduate School of Information Science and
Technology, the University of Tokyo Technology, the University of Tokyo
All applicants except those who have completed a All applicants except those who have completed a
Doctoral Program
master’s program in the Graduate School of master’s program in the Graduate School of
<Special Selection
Information Science and Technology, the University Information Science and Technology, the University
for Professionals>
of Tokyo of Tokyo