March 1, 2005
Temple University, Japan Campus (TUJ) is pleased to announce that JR East and other private railway companies in Eastern Japan have granted discounts on their train routes to students seeking degrees at TUJ. The discounts apply to commuter passes and long-distance tickets. This milestone directly stems from Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) official recognition of TUJ as a Foreign University, Japan Campus on February 14, 2005.
TUJ was established in Tokyo in 1982 as a branch campus of Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. Since its inception, TUJ has worked to resolve impediments facing its students including the inability to receive student visas and commuter pass discounts, unfavorable tax treatment, and lack of exemption from paying into the National Pension Plan. With the official MEXT recognition, the train pass discount issue is one of the first to be settled, giving TUJ students the same privilege that students attending Japanese universities and colleges have long enjoyed.
TUJ undergraduate, Mr. Yuichi Takahashi, comments, “I am very happy to be able to obtain a discount pass. All my friends at TUJ are excited to know that we are the first TUJ students to enjoy this privilege.”
The Dean of Temple University, Japan Campus, Kirk R. Patterson, notes that “we are delighted that JR East and other private railway companies in Eastern Japan have moved quickly to use our new MEXT designation as the basis on which to grant TUJ students the same train-pass discounts as those enjoyed by Japanese university students. We are grateful to JR East and other railway companies for eliminating this long-standing inequity in the treatment of TUJ and our students and, more importantly, for helping ease the financial burden borne by TUJ students as they strive to realize their educational and career dreams.”