A foreigner becoming a doctor in Japan?

Hi, I am a foreigner looking to become a doctor in Japan. I am aware that JLPT N1 is needed but I would like some opinions and I'm struggling to find people to have a friendly discussion with lol. There are a lot of concerns I have when I think about practicing medicine in Japan. For example I don't know if being a foreigner and a woman would slim down my chances at getting into a university but I am assuming it will because of the scandal in 2018 with The Tokyo Medical University. Another concern I have is that I read about how getting into a university is highly dependent on which middle school and high school you went to. Being a foreigner I obviously do not have a past of prestigious Japanese schooling in my younger years. My grades in the past have been A's and high B's. I have also done a pharmacy technician course and have gotten straight A's and have been on the president's list. I'm not worried about my ability to learn since I have found my passion and drive in the medical field. I am also worried about job prospects after university since I am assuming there would be a bias to higher Japanese born doctors. I have also read that the hiring is strongly influenced by which university you attend, the more prestigious the university the higher the chance at getting hired. This is a bit troubling since I am not confident I can make it into such a place. Essentially what I'm getting at here is, I am completely willing to pour in the time, effort money, and stress to make it into a Japanese medical university. But will my efforts be for naught or will it actually pay off? I know there's no way for anyone to know this for certain, but some different views would be nice.

This comes up here once every few months or so. I recommend searching the forum and reading the past threads.

One thing I will advise is that you forget about JLPT ranks; you are going to need way beyond N1 level Japanese to practice medicine. I had a friend in nursing at TWMU and some of the material she was studying looked like an alien language to me. For reference my N1 score was 174. Regardless of what your language skills look like now you are going to have to work incredibly hard on them.

Hi graphite136649,

I don't know why you insist in Japan, but it's also possible to work with a foreign medical license in Japan under special contracts. Below are details.
https://www.google.com/search?q=%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%E3%81%AB%E3%81%84%E...

There are also universities in Japan that support foreign students aiming to obtain Japanese medical license.
https://www.google.com/search?q=%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%E3%81%AE%E5%8C%BB%E...

The internet tells me that it is extremely rare for foreign doctors to obtain Japanese medical license, but here is that rare example of a foreign woman who did that. Note that dermatology is among the departments more open to female doctors.
https://career-lab.m3.com/categories/case/series/case/articles/39

So, to sum up, yes, it is extremely difficult and competitive, therefore, I'm not sure if it's worth what you're aiming for, but it's not impossible.

Another concern I have is that I read about how getting into a university is highly dependent on which middle school and high school you went to.

This has less to do with the name of the schools but more to do with what they teach you. Prestigious schooling is prestigious for a reason, and they have the know-how to raise their students into young doctors. Your classmate would also be ideal rivals. It could be quite difficult to obtain that education elsewhere. But again, it's not impossible, and a good Japanese friend of mine has done that.

Not to be discouraging, but why do you need to work in Japan as a doctor as opposed to your own country? If you don't mind doing all the extra work and certifications, as well as proficiency to understand the language completely as if you're a native speaker, then by all means.

Being a doctor overseas usually requires many years of school and training and doing that much more just for Japan makes me wonder why you need to do that profession, as opposed to many other kinds you could do in Japan.

Is this an absolute MUST that you need to do in Japan as opposed to another career or business?

Hi,
I'm a doctor from Aus but did one of my medical school placements in Japan for around a month and had the opportunity to interact with a lot of Japanese doctors.
Medical school is competitive everywhere you go, but I'd argue the competition is even more cuthroat in countries like Japan. Completing a medical degree in your native language is already quite difficult - the issue with Japanese is that they literally have their own medical terms (including anatomy) for everything. Medical terminology is like a second language in itself, so this is a massive hurdle.
Unless you have native-level proficiency in Japanese including reading and writing (say if you were raised in Japan or to Japanese parents), I would say going to Japanese medical school route is not a very realistic idea.
Your best chance would be to instead get a medical degree in your own home country, and then apply for a Japanese medical license - I believe the caveat to this route is that you are limited to treating foreign patients only, though I might be wrong on that.
Alternatively you can pursue non-clinical work like research, which is more way more foreigner-friendly.
I'll stress that clear and accurate communication is a massive part of clinical medicine, and its often minior slip ups in the chain of communication that can lead to fatal errors.

There is some excellent advice above. I was previously a teacher at an international school in Japan and can attest that our Japanese students in general had the English level to become doctors at university but not the Japanese level. And that's with Japanese parents living in Japan. Let's just say there is a difference between conversational and academic language.

I can only speak for an English language perspective, but my best students learnt the basics on academic English in around 3 years and this is before the medical terminology.

I'm also a geologist and can attest that this language is like another one which medical doctors can't understand, but my biggest danger would be blowing up rocks in the wrong location, not someone's life each eay

why young people think that they can become a medical doctor under the same efforts that they do in your country ? they underestimate the language barrier. therefore, it is much easier for them to be a medical doctor in their countries.

life is not a gamble and not a lottery. I do not recommend and suggest any of them, particularly for young people.

I don't think the OP underestimates anything. Quite the contrary.

「知れば知るほど、日本で医師になることが不可能に近いのではないかと思えるが、やはり諦めたほうがいいだろうか」が主さんの主訴だと解釈しました。