Hello, for quite some time I’ve been considering moving to Japan. Right now im in first part of my 20s, graduating top faculty in top university of technology in my country (mechatronics, specialization in measurement robotics).
Now here are the questions:
1. I would like to get PhD, but when I tried googling for some information about getting one in Japan, I got contradictory info. Some sites said I would have to pass entrance exams, other said entrance exams are only for those doing Masters+PhD in one course, and graduates with Masters completed don’t get to write exams, instead they need Prof. approval after presenting their desired thesis and research plan. Which one is (more) correct? I guess that depends on the University itself, but is there any standard to it?
2. Would I be better off doing PhD in my current University, while working, and then moving to Japan? (Are foreign PhD diplomas well respected?)
3. Is there any real benefit for having PhD in Japan? I am not talking about emigration process (points), but things like the way people treat you at work, or big salary differences.
4. Right now I’ve got around one year of work experience (RnD) and two published papers (one conference, one journal), assuming I’ve passed N1 test, and have working VISA, how hard would it be to find a job as either a researcher or an engineer (mechatronics/production/QA/AI coding) and what would be a reasonable starting salary if I wanted to work in Tokyo? I’ve tried to google last part of this question, but the results I got were all over the place. (Some claimed 3 mil/year, while other sites indicated around 6-7 mil/year as a starting point for someone with 1-3 years of experience) Would it be easier to find a job, or would the salary go much higher if I had PhD?
5 comments
RemindMe! 1 day
if you like huge paycuts and way more work sure.
If you have to ask whether doing a PhD worth it, whether you want it, whether it is for you, then, almost always, the answer is “no”.
Unless you want to work in academia (i.e., as a university faculty, or researcher at RIKEN, or maybe as a pharmacy clinical researcher), there is very little point in doing a PhD. You will be networking in the wrong kind of crowd for many years. Instead, start working, and if you *still* fancy the idea of doing academic research, do it part time, besides working, in collaboration with the people/industry where you work.
It will not going to be easy, will drain your time from friends and family.
Most PhDs are generally accepted here in Japan, but there’s generally very little reason to have them here unless you’re going into academia.
1. You may already know this but Masters and PhD programs are usually separate in Japan. Masters programs usually have an exam + interview, and PhD programs only have interviews. There’s usually an English proficiency test for both. However these greatly depend on the university and department. As for meeting professors, I’m pretty sure almost 100% of PIs will require you to talk to them before applying, even if the university’s program doesn’t require you to do so. Depending on the field, it may be greatly advantageous to have a published paper, but I am not sure. At least for biology, it takes a few years to do experiments and publish, so that’s not the case.
2. A PhD is a PhD. It doesn’t matter where you get it (except for some universities in some countries that pay extra salary to Postdocs from top ranked unis). However it might be advantageous if your PI has connections, so if you want to work in Japan, Japanese PIs could help you out more.
3. Depends on what you want to do. Obviously most jobs in academia require a PhD, but a lot of companies don’t. Japanese companies probably don’t value PhDs as much as the states. Foreign companies in Japan (like Google Japan for example) may be different. Sorry I’m not too sure about industry.