In Japan, there are nearly 500 four-year colleges and universities, which are very diversified in terms of scales and origins and so on. This article is concerned with university typology and the factors which determine the characteristics of Japanese universities. A factor analysis of 21 variables was performed using 449 Japanese universities and colleges' data.

Nearly 50% of the total variation can be explained by the first four principal factors. The first factor may be named "Comprehensive-Research-Graduate Education". The second factor may be "Social Sciences vs Medical", the third "Women vs Co-education", and the fourth "Mass Education". The result shows the functional and academic divisions of labor among Japanese universities and colleges.