[1] National universities tend to be held in higher regard in higher education in Japan than private or public universities.
[2] In 2004, the national university system underwent partial privatization.
Since 2004, each national university has been incorporated as a National University Corporation (国立大学法人, kokuritsu daigaku hōjin) and given limited autonomy in its operations.
[3] Faculty and staff are no longer government employees (国家公務員, kokka kōmuin) working for the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.
The list is in alphabetical order: Although The Open University of Japan and Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology are founded by the national government's initiatives and heavily subsidised by the government, they are classified as private.