Hello everyone,
I hold a Ph.D. in theoretical physics and am currently working as a post-doc. I have a successful track record in my field, with several talks about my work given in both Europe and the United States, as well as numerous papers published in renowned journals. I have a question: If I were interested in moving to Japan, what types of jobs could I pursue beyond the standard post-doc options? For instance, would it be possible for a foreigner to teach courses like “general relativity” at a private university?
Generally speaking, with a generic interest in “teaching,” what job opportunities does Japan offer outside of the strict research-academic path?
Thank you for your insights
2 comments
This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.
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**Career Pathways: Teaching in Japan with a PhD**
Hello everyone,
I hold a Ph.D. in theoretical physics and am currently working as a post-doc. I have a successful track record in my field, with several talks about my work given in both Europe and the United States, as well as numerous papers published in renowned journals. I have a question: If I were interested in moving to Japan, what types of jobs could I pursue beyond the standard post-doc options? For instance, would it be possible for a foreigner to teach courses like “general relativity” at a private university?
Generally speaking, with a generic interest in “teaching,” what job opportunities does Japan offer outside of the strict research-academic path?
Thank you for your insights
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If you don’t mind that strict research-academic path, then it’s possible to get a job as an Assistant Professor after your Post Doc, or just get another Post Doc. Actually, your chances are higher at a public (national) university rather than a private university (unless you don’t care about school name and apply to an international student focused private university).
In Japan, all academic position job postings are conviently collected in one place, JREC-IN [https://jrecin.jst.go.jp/seek/SeekTop](https://jrecin.jst.go.jp/seek/SeekTop)
There is an English side to JREC-IN, but the Japanese side has 10x the number of postings (but of course requires fluency in Japanese).
If you are not fluent in Japanese, it’s possible to get a job in academia in Japan, but your selections are very limited.
If you are not fluent in Japanese, teaching Physics outside of academia is unrealistic. English teaching outside of academia is possible, but that won’t help with your future career and gets paid a lot less.
Some information:
– STEM academic positions in Japan are mostly research. Some total guesses, I would put:
Post Docs: 90% personal research, 5% student research guidence, 0% teaching, 0% grant writing, 0% admin
Assistant Prof: 70% personal research, 10% student research, 10% teaching, 5% grant writing, 5% admin
Associate Prof: 45% personal research, 30% student research, 10% teaching, 5% grant writing, 10% admin
Full Prof: 10% personal research, 50% student research, 10% teaching, 10% grant writing, 20% admin
– The biggest and best schools are normally national universities. Thus, they are the ones with English programs. There are some top private schools that also fit in that category. The majority of private schools are small or not prestigious. These schools, along with less prestigous public schools normally don’t attract foreign students. There is an excecption where there are a few private universities that target foreign students specifically.
– National universities usually are more research focused. STEM professors only teach 1-3 classes per year. Private universities are usually more teaching focused and you will have to teach more. English teachers are usually required to teach a lot more, but those positions aren’t positions you want because you won’t have the resources to research Physics. Plus, it’s not like you have linguistics publications.