Hello everyone. I have some questions and advice about obtaining an MBA in Japan and living there.
Some background on me: I am Nikkei specifically Yonsei (4th generation) Japanese American and have lived in California my entire life. Graduated from college about 2 years ago from a decent university and studied finance. For the past two years I’ve been working at a large bank in their analyst program. I have been planning to apply to a MBA program here in the US for a while now and I just took the GMAT (MBA admissions test) and I received a very good score. I was planning on matriculating for my MBA in about 2 more years or around 2026 which would give me about 4 years of full time work experience.
With that being said a goal and dream of mine has been to move to Japan and live and work there long term. Currently my Japanese language level is basically beginner and I am also currently enrolled in a Japanese language school that I just started and they have classes going all the way up to prepare you to pass the N1. I was wondering if I could get some advice on doing an MBA from one of Japan’s top universities and then staying there and working and living long term. I have researched this some what and from what I’ve seen an MBA isn’t the most valued degree in Japan. Would it be feasible for me to keep studying Japanese and get to a decent level and then try and get my MBA in Japan? Ideally this means I could move to Japan in about two years and also simultaneously finish getting to a fluent Japanese level and pass the N1 while I am in school there. Then I could network and recruit for a job in the finance industry? This option is very intriguing for me because I would really value being able to move over there and live there in about two years. Also keep in mind I am not expecting some mind blowing job. I would simply be happy just breaking into the finance industry in Japan with a respectable job. My other path would be to ditch the whole MBA thing and only try and move there once I have completed the N1 here in the US. The reason this idea worries me is because I want to go to Japan and live there while I am still young and going from beginner to N1 seems like it would take me between 3-4 years.
TLDR: I realize getting an MBA in the US is valued and opens a lot of doors but if my goal is to move and live and work in Japan long term with a job in finance as soon as I can would the MBA in Japan path be possible or would it just be better for me to drop that and get to N1 level and then try and get a job there although this would probably take longer? Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks!
by LemonDaddddy