Junior & Senior High School at Komaba, affiliated with Tokyo University of Education (now University of Tsukuba), was a boys' school and called "Kyokoma." Although the entrance examination was not as difficult then as it is now, the acceptance rate was apparently about one in seven to eight applicants.
When I started school, one of my classmates surprised me. His name was Koji Matsumoto, and he later went on to work for the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (now the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry). He easily and eloquently explained Einstein's Theory of Relativity to me. Having only read "Kodomo no Kagaku" and "Kagaku Gaho," two science magazines for elementary school students, I could not understand it at all. I remember being greatly inspired by his explanation and devouring books on physics and mathematics in the school library.
