My school is offering me the chance to study in Japan and continue my schooling there. My grandfather fought in WWII and spent a lot of time post-war in japan, so it’s culture has been very present in my family, and I’ve always had an affinity for the far east. I’m considering the option of possibly living there, the only hang up being I’d want to live out in a more rural area, somewhere like Hokkaido. I’ve heard job offerings for foreigners out in the country are much more limited to jobs like being an English teacher, and I don’t feel like packing up to move across the world and work very hard just to teach English. I’d like to continue my goals of working towards a degree in something I love like evolutionary biology, entomology, botany, or statistics, and then apply it in some way in a scientific setting. If I did have the advantage of higher education would that allow more leeway? I know most universities and research institutes are very international, so I’m holding out hope I could still work and live doing what I love, applying and challenging myself while using science to make a difference.
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Yes no maybe… Depends on your area of expertise. Honesty just a degree alone is worthless. You need experience! Also, why hire you over a Japanese native speaker. You need to be fluent or have a talent that is considered rare like some type of engineering/computer science etc. And again have experience not just a degree.
I’m not sure what you mean by “more leeway.” If you’re looking to work in academia, it is competitive, just as it is all over the world.
Most importantly though you need high level Japanese language skills as many universities will want you to be able to handle your administrative work in Japanese, if not also use Japanese as you main language for teaching, etc. This is of course in addition to your degrees, experience, and stellar CV.
However, I note you say that your school is offering you some opportunity? It sounds like a study abroad program? If so, it can be great experience and you’re not committing to working in Japan. Many people do a semester or year abroad and then continue on to careers in their home country.
It depends on what you major in.
It’s relatively easy for people from abroad who majored in STEM and speak English fluently to find a nice job in Japan.