Komaba Times

An English-language newsletter at The University of Tokyo, Komaba Campus

The Komaba Times is an English-language newsletter at The University of Tokyo, Komaba Campus. Founded in 2011 as an undergraduate journalism class, has been student-run from the fall semester of 2019. We publish a new issue every April. All UTokyo students – undergraduate students, exchange students, graduate/doctoral students, and research students from all campuses, departments, faculties and levels are encouraged to contribute and take part in the publication. They aim to give students a space to freely express their voices, opinions and experiences to the UTokyo community and to the wider world. They hope that by giving students this space and freedom to share their perspectives, they can foster wider, deeper and more active participation within the student body towards the betterment of the community.

Number of members
Editorial team: 4
Contributors: 8

Grade composition of members
There is about a 1:1 ratio of undergraduate to graduate students who are contributors.

Grade Composition of the Administration Team
The majority of the editorial team this year are graduate students. However, this varies year on year, and in the past, editorial teams have mainly been made out of undergraduate students, many of whom were in PEAK.

Gender Ratio
The editorial team has a 1:1 ratio, whereas the contributors are mainly females.

Period of entry
The editorial team is made of fall-entry students, while there is a mix of both fall- and April-entry students in our group of contributors

Features of Membership
ex) ・There are many active students who have studied abroad, lived abroad, or participated in various extracurricular activities up until high school.
・More members studying natural sciences (rikei) students as compared to other international circles.

How many members leave the activity during the year?
We had two contributors sign up and decide not to contribute in the end, but it is a relatively small number, as most contributors have decided what to contribute when they sign up and see it through to the end.

How much difference is there in the amount of commitment among members?
There is much more commitment involved for the editorial team than for contributors.

Usual Activities
Editorial team: Weekly meetings
Contributors: Ad-hoc, deadline-based

October - November: Recruitment (editorial team)
November - December: Recruitment (contributors)
End January: Deadline for first draft of contributions
End January - Mid February: Back and forth editing with contributors (2-3 rounds), illustration and layout drafts, liaising with design/printing company
End February: Final adjustments and copy checks before printing
Early March: Final design to be sent for printing, marketing for new issue to begin (throughout March)
End March: Hardcopies of issue arrive, begin distribution plan
April onwards: Distribution of hardcopy issues, gradual release of web article building up to e-issue, continued marketing

Selection Process：
Editorial team: Email faculty advisor with indication of interest, past experience/works (if any), followed by short chat about involvement
Contributors: Application via online form with writing/creative work samples as well as content pitch

Eligible Members：
No restriction on the basis of university, grade, department, undergraduate/graduate

Members who actually join：
Changes every year, but this year it has been primarily graduate students.

Precedure to join：
Editorial team: Email faculty advisor with indication of interest, past experience/works (if any), followed by short chat about involvement
Contributors: Application via online form with writing/creative work samples as well as content pitch

○Pros

• Unique experience of being on the editorial team of a magazine with quite a lot of agency to choose what you want to do and how you want to do it, insight into how a publication runs.
• Ability to meet a diverse group of people, both contributors and editorial team members.
• Since it’s an English-language publication, you might get the chance to meet other international students from many different countries and faculties.
• Opportunity to develop writing, editing, and communication skills. As a contributor, you get a space to express your opinions, experiences, and voice freely, through whatever form you choose, and benefit from the feedback from the editorial team.

△Cons

• Deadlines for the contributions match up with the end-of-term academic deadlines, so that can be a bit stressful.
• Most of the work is done over winter break (at least the first half), which is both good (you don’t have to worry about school work) and bad (it might be a little bit tiring after the term).