Pursuing a PhD in Japan?

4 comments

1. This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.

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   **Pursuing a PhD in Japan?**

   **A bit of background:**

   I’m from Taiwan, and I have a Pharm.D (that’s a bachelor’s degree in my country), an M.S. in pharmaceutical sciences, and one publication as first author. During my M.S. years, I found this professor in Yamanashi who’s working in the field that’s related to my research topic. I later went on his website and found that he’s actually a pretty established figure in that field of research. I haven’t contacted him yet or anything, but I do hope to study under him in the future.

   **My questions are:**

   1. Since I’ve only recently started planning on this, I’m not really familiar with the academic culture in Japan. I’m asking if anyone has any experience
   2. How to know whether there are vacancies in his lab? Do I just email him and ask about it? Also, if I were to email him, should I start with something like: “I have this idea for this project that’s related to your field, and do you have any vacancies? (or how do I apply to your school, something like that?)”
   3. Is there a language proficiency requirement for PhD students?
   4. Does a biochemistry PhD in Japan help you get a job there? The more famous big pharmas like Takeda or Daiichi Sankyo, etc… do they recruit foreigners with a Japanese degree?

   THANKS!!

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2. Since you’re from Taiwan I recommend you checking out some of the posts on PTT JapanStudy(am Taiwanese myself), there are a few posts talking about application experiences that might have some answers

3. >Since I’ve only recently started planning on this, I’m not really familiar with the academic culture in Japan. I’m asking if anyone has any experience

   It varies per university and even per labo. Maybe ask alumni from the lab what the working environment is like. I can’t answer yet, I will start my PhD at Kyodai this fall.

   >How to know whether there are vacancies in his lab? Do I just email him and ask about it? Also, if I were to email him, should I start with something like: “I have this idea for this project that’s related to your field, and do you have any vacancies? (or how do I apply to your school, something like that?)”

   There aren’t really ‘vacancies’ for PhDs like you have elsewhere. In Japan they see PhD more as a course than as a job, so you pay tuition as well. Email the professor and ask if he has any interest in taking you on as a student. Make sure you can afford the tuition, or apply for a scholarship like MEXT. When emailing the professor, be sure to include your research idea and include your resume as well!

   >Is there a language proficiency requirement for PhD students?

   Depends, what working language does the lab you want to join have? If it’s English, then you only need to know basic Japanese. If it’s Japanese, you’ll need near native Japanese. Ask the professor, or check out his lab online.

   >Does a biochemistry PhD in Japan help you get a job there? The more famous big pharmas like Takeda or Daiichi Sankyo, etc… do they recruit foreigners with a Japanese degree?

   It depends. You will most likely need to be fluent in Japanese to be able to land a job, but maybe large companies are more international. I’m sure you can find something online.

4. You should contact the professor and explain your intentions to pursue a PhD. Include your CV including your list of publications. Also, about your idea, write a formal research proposal. But chances are that if you get accepted, your topic will change.

   Normally there are no classes for PhD, so as long as you can communicate with your professor, there is no language requirement. But, some professors can’t speak English well, so they would enforce a language policy.