Hello there! It’s Liu, a master student majoring in material science, and also your trust-worthy guide to Tokyo Tech.

I wonder how many of you reading this post owns a twitter account, but based on my observation, around 90% of the students in Tokyo Tech own one, and 70% are addicted to twitter. HOW? You might ask. Isn’t twitter merely a platform of sharing memes or stalking celebrities? This is exactly what I’m going to explain in this post.
In this part of the world… Twitter is a bulletin board for literally EVERYTHING.

●Twitter in Japan
Let’s start with the social media inclination in Japan. The two main social media are Instagram, used to show off your personal life, and Twitter, used for memes, complaining, gaming, and all sorts of random stuff.
Generally speaking, nerdy, geeky people tend to use Twitter more, and being one of the top institutes of technology, Tokyo Tech is… urm… you get the idea. Tokyo Tech is probably one of the densest places in terms of Twitter addicts.

● On campus information
On campus information spreads like crazy on Twitter, partially due to the number of users, partially because people are so used to tweeting random stuff, even something as trivial as a class cancellation. There is literally no need to check the student portal, nor your university mail, because your timeline will most likely be filled with tweets of friends such as “yo the class is cancelled today” “aww I almost forgot the cancellation”.

● Academic related information
As a master’s student, I believe one useful habit is to get informed of the latest researches of your field. There are, however, multiple approaches to achieve similar results. You can either check the journals of your favor from time to time, or, follow accounts of people/experts from the same field because chances are, some the most impactful researches will be shared by them on your Twitter timeline out of nowhere.
The bulletin board function doesn’t stop there. I remember during my bachelor years, guys from the same class used to post pictures of confusing assignments, and the next thing you know, is that people start to get involved in intense academic discussion. On Twitter.

● Nerdy socializing
As you might have already noticed, Tokyo Tech has some pretty lively Twitter-based online communities. On the contrary, not too much happening offline to be frank. I definitely feel that all kinds of socializing events including partying, are way less popular at Tokyo Tech, and people generally meet up less frequently. Let’s put it this way: We’re born naturals when it comes to social distancing. But hey, this is just the culture of the institute. The good side is, there will always be someone online to fuss over something together. I remember everyone getting hyped when Tokyo Tech was on TV Tokyo, and my timeline was overflowed with funny scenes of the TV program and Tokyo tech related jokes. I actually enjoyed it quite a lot. For better or worse, Twitter is undoubtedly a part of the whole “Tokyo Tech experience”.

Lastly, I would like to share a typical tweet from a Tokyo Tech related person:
“The number of positives in Tokyo tested today is 389 people, which is a prime number. The number the other day was 463, also a prime number… seriously, who cares? lol
Anyways, keep yourselves safe and I hope the virus gets controlled soon.”
*summarized and translated from Japanese*

Yeah, it’s a joke on the stereotype that Tokyo Tech students love prime numbers, and you did not hear it from any other random guy, this tweet is from his highness, the president of Tokyo Tech – Kazuya Masu himself. By the way, other than important policies and significant research achievements of the university, the president also tweets about ramen and taking a walk with his pet dog. Guess who was also hyped when Tokyo Tech was also on TV?
“I watched the whole TV program, and I think the campus and nearby areas were introduced neatly. Couldn’t leave out the ramen battleground… I love those shops.”
*summarized and translated from Japanese*

@masu1017
So here you go, a piece of extremely indispensable information of Tokyo Tech. I hope you enjoyed the post. Ciao!