Keio University Team Wins First Place at ICPC Japan Qualifier for the First Time

Keio University’s competitive programming team, “Rinshan Solution,” won first place out of approximately 350 teams from across Japan at the ICPC (International Collegiate Programming Contest) national qualifying round held on July 4, 2025. This is the first time a team from Keio University has done so.

The ICPC is one of the world’s largest algorithmic programming contests for university students. Students are tested on their ability to solve multiple complicated problems accurately and efficiently within a time limit.

This year, 11 teams from Keio participated in the competition, two of which made it through the qualifying round. The two teams qualified for the Asia Pacific Regional Competition to be held in Yokohama in December 2025.

One of the two teams, “Rinshan Solution,” won the top spot among the qualifying teams by demonstrating their ability to solve all the problems in just 1 hour and 31 minutes. This is the first time that a Keio University team has won a national qualifier.

Behind this accomplishment was AIC’s ongoing commitment to conducting competitive programming workshops. In addition to a hands-on virtual contest, these workshops have helped participating students steadily hone their skills by providing them with detailed explanations, tips, and examples of implementation for each type of problem. The winning team this time included students who had also served as instructors for the workshops. The shared learning experience between fellow students and the various challenges they had overcome together culminated in this achievement.

The teams that made it through the qualifying rounds will now advance to the Asia Pacific Regional Competition (Yokohama), followed by the Asia Pacific Finals (Taiwan), and then to the World Finals.

Please stay tuned as our students continue to make progress in future contests.

Comments from the winning team members

• I’m so glad that we won. We will continue to practice a lot as a team, as well as train on our own by solving many problems to become stronger. Our team will do our best to achieve another favorable result at the Yokohama competition in December.
  

• I’m very satisfied with the result we achieved this time. On the other hand, while I felt that I had put in my best effort as an individual, as a team I keenly felt that our coordination was still not up to the mark. The competition is not over yet, so we will continue to brace ourselves, keep our heads up, and do our best.

Comments from AIC Representative, Professor Yakoh

AIC’s competitive programming workshops have been one of the activities that AIC has been focusing on since its establishment. For the first few years, we requested Professor Yutaka Hori to be our instructor, but soon after, we shifted to a format in which students take on the role of instructor. This has steadily evolved into a symbolic activity in which students teach other students. This time, here in the cheerful atmosphere of the AIC lounge, I was impressed by the earnest and daring efforts of all 11 teams as they engaged in friendly competition. I was also very surprised and elated to witness the moment of accomplishment when one of the teams finished solving all the problems in about half of the allotted time. I look forward to the students’ further progress.

Click here for the ICPC National Qualifying Results.