(Power) Harassment at Japanese Universities

I am currently studying at one of the top two universities in Japan and am dealing with a lot of deceitful mechanisms that allows professors that are harassing their students, get away with their despicable behaviour time and time again. In the comments I have attached a screenshot from a PhD student (with names censored) who has finally graduated after having to extend his graduation for years. His late supervisor is infamous for not letting his students graduate on time, he is basically using them as data collecting machines through internships at institutes that aligns specifically with his research.

Has anyone had any harassment experiences at a university in Japan?

5 comments
  1. Wow, sounds just like my professor from years ago.. sadly, I can’t help with any advice – I just quit phd at one point.

  2. Go to r/PhD and you will see these kind of academic harrasment not just in Japan but the whole world. Academic attracts smart people that excel in research and getting grants, not necessarily in mentoring people and it shows. Some might be a caring and compassionate professors as well, but sadly some are the worst teachers, especially in tenured ones, they can do basically anything without repercussion.

    I took my bachelor’s and master’s here as well so I’ve seen my fair of academic harrasment, whether in my lab or others. That’s why I vowed never to take PhD here, I’ve had enough of academic stress just seeing PhD students struggle. I really believe PhD is more for people in 天才 (genius) category.

    You can try to report the professor but I don’t think they’ll ever change. Switching professor is more realistic and I’ve seen many students do this if they couldn’t take it no more. This might be a wiser choice.

  3. I’m assuming Kyoto University, which is arguably worse than the average about power harassment (and the average is already bad… really bad!).

    I was in the same situation while under MEXT scholarship. What I did was telling the university office to warn the supervisor about the “possibility” of me having to return in full the scholarship if I didn’t graduate in time (it’s unheard of, but they helped putting pressure on him). Then he finally let me submit my thesis and papers, that were all ready already.

    By the second half of my PhD I was not asking my supervisor for days off or vacation anymore, I would either just e-mail telling them I was not going to be available on the days (and reply positively to all their questions, even if it was a lie: better ask for forgiveness than permission). At the end I was not even sending e-mails, just wouldn’t appear and ignore his calls (because the MF would call me at midnight asking why I was not at the lab).

    Just to be safe, keep a paper log of every incident that happens. Every conversation you have and such. If it becomes an official university problem, you can protect yourself with that.

  4. I am a Masters student at Doshisha University in Kyoto and the university has a robust system against any kind of harassment, so I’d say it’s not all Japanese universities. In my home country there was a lot of harassment and no punishment, so I’d also say this is not only a Japanese problem.

    The academic environment is not easy. I’m sorry that this is happening to you and I hope they are punished for their actions.

Leave a Reply
You May Also Like