早稲田大学 Waseda Daigaku, established by Okuma Shigenobu in the 1880's, became a full-fledged university in 1902 and was converted to a four-year institution after World War II. It is a rokudai member and one of the most prestigious universities in the country, especially for literature (it counts Takenishi Hiroko, Murakami Haruki, Osada Hiroshi, and Tawada Yoko among its alumni). They recently gave an honorary doctorate to Walter Cronkite.

It currently has over 50,000 students, and the second-largest international student population in the country after the University of Tokyo. Its main rival school is Keio University.