Tohoku University is a comprehensive university located in the Tohoku region of northern Japan. It was founded in 1907 as the third national university in Japan and is now one of the country’s leading research universities. The main campus is located in Aobayama, Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture.
The university has eight faculties and ten graduate schools. The faculties are Humanities and Social Sciences, Education, Law, Economics, Science, Engineering, Agriculture, and Medicine. Amongst these are over 40 research institutes including those for Earthquake Research and Tsunami Studies (ERATO), Space Science (ISAS), Low Temperature Physics (LTPU), Neuroscience (NBRF), Materials Science (WPI-AIMR) and International Center for Water Hazard and Risk Management (ICHARM).
In addition to its many academic achievements, Tohoku University has produced six Nobel laureates: Kenichi Fukui (Chemistry, 1981), Yoichiro Nambu (Physics, 2008), Makoto Kobayashi and Toshihide Maskawa (Physics, 2008), Hideki Shirakawa (Chemistry, 2000)and Susumu Tonegawa(Physiology or Medicine ,1987). As of May 2016 the current president is Susumu Satomi.