Hello , i hope everyone is doing well , i am not sure if i’m posting this at the right place , sorry if this is not .
I am a 3rd year med student in France , and i would like to go work/live abroad .
I already have 2 countries in my mind but i don’t know which one to choose between :Japan and South Korea , so i need to decide as soon as possible to start learning the languageand i need some advices and clarification .
I love both cultures (even tho i have a slight preference for japan) my primary questions are how are the hospitals there and how are they run (public or private or is there ny big difference between both ?)
I heard that in korean culture they have a strict respect to hierarchy and most of korean hospitals are runned privately , is it not going to be a problem for inegality of equipement/treatement etc ? or anything ?
Honestly i want to go to japan but it seems to be much harder to get to work and live there than in korea , if anyone could confirm that or explain to me please !! and the japanese language is a bit more difficult too .
I already know a lot about japan’s everyday life , but don’t know much about how it is in korea , i watch korean drama series from time to time but i guess it’s not the same in real life , are the streets as clean as in japan , are people as respectful as in japan ? how is the food quality there ?
i have so many questions ! i am really lost at the moment and can’t take a decision , so any advice or comment is welcome about either the culture ; weather ; people ; healthcare system or really anyting related to those countries , so Thank you to everyone who will respond/help me !!!
6 comments
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You can work for a telemedicine company and live in japan 👍🏼
How about instead of trying to make a giant leap you go one step at a time? Have you checked if your university offers student exchanges with Japan and/or Korea? Or you could go to either country during a semester break for some intensive language course. You can also always graduate and then go to either country doing a working holiday or again an intensive language course. I would say the least efficient option is to go through the whole education in your language just to spend years learning another language and then going through the whole process once more, especially when you aren’t even sure yet if you’ll even enjoy living and working in that country. So I think visiting either country even if just for a few months is the most reasonable first step.
I think for Japan they will not validate your degree. You need to study in Japan in order to be a doctor
https://www.nippon.com/en/people/e00118/amp/
You read it and see the possibilities of being a licensed doctor in Japan.
Lived in both (Kobe in Japan and both Yeosu and Hanam in SK), only moved back to Europe because of Covid. Choices were be stuck in Korea or go home and I had to be smart.
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Japan is nice to visit, but for living I just didn’t enjoy it, you never truly feel like you belong there and aside from expat communities will consistently feel a miserable sense of loneliness. Korea is great, it’s fun, it’s more – in terms of personality – compatible with Westeners, and this is from someone who never lived in the bigger cities (Busan, Seoul, Gangnam etc). People took me in as part of the community once they got used to having me around and cost of living was decent.
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With that said, the culture in both takes effort. You will be on your own for a while. Koreans would correct my mistakes, help me learn certain administrative functions etc, the Japanese sort of turn a blind eye to you, even outright avoid some foreigners or not open services to them because of both language barriers and their worry they won’t understand your needs. Koreans aren’t really the same, plus if you’re annoying them – they’ll tell you. The Japanese could feel pretty passive aggressive at times.
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But doctors usually try to LEAVE those countries to work in Europe/USA/Australia, it’s not a place you’d migrate to in those fields. Also I’d factor logistics into your decision, you might want Japan, but their requirements might not be as obtainable as that in Korea.