MBA / Business Degree Programs in Tokyo

Hitotsubashi University Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy (ICS):
Hitotsubashi University Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy is a business school in Japan that offers, among other programs, an MBA and DBA entirely in English. Its world-class curriculum is comprehensive but focuses on three dominant areas – corporate strategy, functional strategies, and strategy implementation – to develop business leaders capable of initiating, implementing, and managing innovation internationally.

Hitotsubashi University was founded in 1875 to educate “Captains of Industry” through combining the best of Japanese and Western philosophies and practices, and to lead Japan’s entry into the industrialized world.  For over 135 years, Hitotsubashi graduates have been at the forefront of Japanese business, government, academics, and media.  In 2000, Hitotsubashi University founded the Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy (HItotsubashi ICS) to continue its tradition of developing global leaders.

To develop a new generation of global business leaders for Japan, Asia, and the world; and to create knowledge and disseminate — on a global scale — research output originating from Japan.  Our world-class curriculum combines the best practices in business education from around the world with a distinctive perspective on Japan and Japan’s role in the Asian and global economies.  As a global thought leader, we are a premier source of knowledge on innovation and globalization in Japanese firms and markets, and we provide provocative, cutting-edge and practical ideas to both academics and business practitioners.  Our network of a new generation of leaders of the Asian and global economies is born out of our diverse student body and faculty, through our alliances with top Asian and global business schools, and through our partnerships with leading companies in Japan and the region.

Hitotsubashi ICS combines the best of two worlds to realize our educational mission.  Our vision is to be the bridge between the East and the West, Practice and Theory, Global and Local, Business and Society, Cooperation and Competition, Large and Small, Old and New.  By pursuing these ends simultaneously, we hope to gain the Best of Two Worlds.

East and West
Effective business practices vary around the world and over time. Global leaders do not need to have the “right” answer; rather they must be able to acknowledge diversity, tolerate ambiguity, and innovate by embracing paradox, combining opposites, and constantly challenging conventional wisdom.

Teaching methodology -- Students at Hitotsubashi ICS are exposed to leading-edge management concepts from both the East, such as knowledge management, and the West, such as brand management. They are able to pursue a universal management model that is demanded in the globalization of business, not specializing solely in an Anglo- Saxon model or an Asian approach to management. Furthermore, our students are exposed to pedagogies that have been popularized either in the East, such as seminars, or in the West, such as, the case method.


Practice and Theory
Theory is relevant for defining and resolving the problems and challenges of tomorrow, while Practice is relevant for tackling the problems and challenges of today.

Curriculum -- Our students learn the latest theories in management in the classroom and apply them to “real” situations. Through Field Study and Internship, they face actual business issues and present their findings and insights to top corporate executives and decision-makers.
Hitotsubashi ICS’s intellectual collaboration with many leading companies in Japan offers sponsorships and research alliances to better understand institutional and cultural diversity, and prepare students as leaders in a global economy increasingly dominated by Asia.

Faculty -- Many of our full-time faculty members have teaching experience at other top business schools around the world. More than 60% have been corporate leaders and executives in global and Japanese firms. Over 50% hold an MBA degree. Our faculty members are highly successful authors, public speakers, and researchers. They are appointees to corporate boards of directors and are advisors to leading companies in Japan. By virtue of their continued involvement in the corporate world, our faculty members play a key role in inviting top executive guest speakers to their classes, and facilitating internships and recruitment for our students.

ICS Advantage -- Our student-to-faculty ratio is 3:1. The “Zemi,” or seminar system, is a special feature of academics — and, like at ICS, fosters close, enduring relationships between students and faculty. All incoming ICS students select a Zemi advisor, who in many cases becomes “a mentor for life.”


Global and Local
Our exchange program with 12 leading business schools around the world offers our students the opportunity to experience business education in another academic environment, and to learn about, and live in, another culture.

Tokyo is the center for most of Japan’s corporate recruiters and guest speakers, and offers one of the world’s most efficient public transportation systems and environmental policies. Tokyo is open 24 hours a day, and is safe. Regularly ranked among the world’s top food destinations, Tokyo has more restaurants per capita than almost any other city. The endless array of entertainment, arts and cultural experiences year round includes many of the world’s top artists. This city and its people leave a positive impression that lasts a lifetime.


Business and Society
The interests of individual businesses and industries sometimes conflict with the interest of society as a whole. We make every attempt in our curriculum and research to raise awareness of those conflicts and encourage resolution in a way that is socially beneficial and creates long- term value. At Hitotsubashi ICS, we encourage our students to be actively involved in challenging the larger social issues of poverty, hatred, ignorance, hunger, pollution, crime, disease, and discrimination on a global scale.

Our signature course, Global Citizenship, has been part of our core curriculum from the founding of our MBA program. Every year, our students experience “learning by doing” by interacting and engaging in projects that involve mentally disabled children, the homeless and physically challenged, NGO activists, and volunteer workers.


Cooperation and Competition
From the very beginning of the academic term, our students experience the value of cooperation and teamwork in a mandatory two-day team-building exercise. This signature kick-off program is affectionately known within the Hitotsubashi ICS community as “Takao,” a city in West Tokyo where the outdoor exercise is held.

When classes begin, students form study groups and cooperate in group projects; yet, they compete with each other to get into the seminars of their choice, to qualify for their preferred internships or overseas student exchange programs, and to win student awards.


Large and Small
We choose to be a small school in one of the largest and most vibrant cities in the world.  Each class has fewer than 60 students, allowing our faculty to know and mentor students personally.  Yet our networks with the greater business community and universities around the world allow us to combine the advantages of scale with the speed and flexibility of being small.


Old and New
We are a young graduate school in one of the oldest and most distinguished universities in Japan.  Hitotsubashi University was founded in 1875 to educate “Captains of Industry” through combining the best of Japanese and Western philosophies and practices, and to lead Japan’s entry into the industrialized world. For over 135 years, Hitotsubashi graduates have been at the forefront of Japanese business, government, academics, and media. In 2000, Hitotsubashi University founded the Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy to continue its tradition of developing global leaders.

We value our university’s tradition, but also take seriously our role as an innovator. Research and teaching combine lessons from the old and new — the companies and practices that drove Japan’s economic development and the newest, most innovative companies and business areas that are our future.

1-Year MBA in International Business Strategy (in English)
2-Year MBA in International Business Strategy (in English)
DBA in International Business Strategy (in English)

Business Law Program (in Japanese)
Financial Strategy Program (in Japanese)

Our campus is located in the National Center of Sciences in Hitotsubashi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo. We are only two blocks from the Imperial Palace, within easy walking distance of the Otemachi business district of central Tokyo, and in proximity of the Tokyo Station. This desirable location close to the central business district allows students to visit companies and enables prominent business leaders to visit ICS as guest speakers.

ICS occupies approximately one-third of the National Center of Sciences. The remainder of the building is home to government-affiliated research centers and agencies, and includes several large conference rooms as well as a 500-seat auditorium. In addition to state-of-the-art teaching and meeting facilities, ICS-affiliated faculty members, staff, and students can take advantage of the 20 guest rooms, a restaurant and a cafeteria.