University of Tokyo Yasuda Auditorium

The clock-towered assembly hall at the heart of the country's most prestigious university is an early twentieth-century landmark of collegiate Gothic design, funded by a wealthy industrialist. It became widely known during a dramatic student occupation in the late 1960s and has since been restored as a ceremonial venue. Approached along a famous avenue of golden ginkgo trees, the building anchors a leafy campus open to visitors, whose historic gates, ponds, and dining halls invite an unhurried stroll through academic history.