Hello!
I’m planning to do a phd/doctorate once I finish my Msc (so in a couple of years), and given the subject of my studies I’m either planning to study a phd in Japan or do a cotutelle between France-Japan (although in either case I would be primarily be in Japan for the research itself)
I found a university in Japan that offers a doctorate/phd program that is -exactly- what I want to study/research (and there is like 5 possible project tutors available i can choose from as seen from the list. I still need to have a look at their past papers etc, but they basically all work in the field so yey, even more freedom of choice lol).
Even if it’s still early/couple of years away, I know I will need to start contacting universities and prepare for possible scolarships such as MEXT etc even before officially finishing my msc (either through embassy/consulate or the japanese university directly. Plus it’s known cotutelle are a bit of a paperwork/organization nightmare at first), so I want to start gathering a bit of information now if possible (might be helpful even if there is an eventual change of plans 🤷♀️)
My main question is, has anyone been to Fukushima university/Fukudai/福島大学? If so, what is your opinion about it? Even the city or prefecture, how was the place (I had thought of kyoto university/京大/kyoto in general at first, but then I saw what the other university was offering and really, i don’t care about prestige, doesn’t matter to me as long as I get to study the field I want)
Also the fact that I’m guessing it would be a less touristic/foreigner prone kind of place(? Might be wrong, but i could barely find any info. Sendai city/Miyagi prefecture seem more popular) would certainly help polishing my language skills even faster, even if the program itself is in english. Plus I just, don’t really like big cities either, so the fact it is smaller is a plus in my book tbh (hence why I would never even consider Tokyo in the first place, even if I was offered a place, nor Osaka)
Also, has anyone received a MEXT scolarship to study a phd? How did it go? (Was it through the embassy or the university directly?)
I probably got other questions but these are the main ones
PD: in case it helps, yes i know a certain amount of japanese, i have no doubt I would survive even if at first it would be a tad scary and confusing, especially if they have an accent/heavy dialect, but time helps with that. And I’m studying in a STEM field (also wouldn’t be my first time moving abroad full time to study)
Thanks for reading!
PD2: Wasn’t sure which flair to use, so sorry in advance to the mods if it’s incorrectly marked