Japanese Universities - Reputation

Hey guys I am going on exchange to Japan next year for 2 semesters and am currently deciding which university out of my home uni's partners list to attend.

I was just wondering what the reputation of the following universities is like;

Kyushu University,
Osaka University,
Nagoya University,
Meiji Gakuin.

Waseda is at the top my list but I know it is very competitive as lots of students at my university preference it at #1. Tokyo Uni accepts a few students every year from my school but they must be first year Japanese (and I'm 3rd + 8 years from HS).

I know 3 out of 4 of those universities I mentioned are Imperial Universities, but is that still relevant today? Do most Japanese know those universities? Also I will be studying Political Science and Japanese (language). I hear Osaka U is mainly known for Medicine and Science and not politics, is this true?

Does anyone have any idea what I should preference?

Thank you so much for any replies, I can't tell you how much I appreciate it!

I'm not sure what you mean by "Imperial Universities," but Kyushu University, Osaka University and Nagoya University are all national universities and have the reputations of being the Harvard of each region.

Meiji Gakuin, on the other hand, is a private university in which people have the impression of it being academically "higher than the middle" and culturally "traditional and fairly good."

Do people know them? If you are from a different city, not necessarily. But if you are a person in Japan considering going to universities in Japan no matter how far they are, or if you are trying to employ someone in Japan and need to judge them by their academic resume, yes, you should know about all four of these universities.

Hope it helps.

If you want to study Political Science, you should go Waseda Univ, no doubt.
Ex-Inperial universities or national universities are said "school to be a government official".
Waseda is the school to be a politician or jurnalist.

Tom,

Just to make sure you know, the 3 public universities you named aren't exactly what people aim for as a safety measure or insurance in case they fail to be accepted at Waseda. They are usually considered just as difficult as Waseda or even more. If you want to study political science, go to Waseda. But if you hope to live far from Tokyo, that is another story.