Karate & Career?

hola, hope everyone's doing well.. =]

i'd like to introduce myself as a Singaporean 23 year old male, holding a diploma in biomedical sciences.

i'm sure many of you may have gone through this stage i'm in- the time where you lay all the aspirations you have in life and decide what you really wanna do. as for me, my career aspirations lie in the areas of clinical research and pharmaceuticals and my personal passion is Karate.

given this, i'm looking to pursue a BSc Pharma Science, while at the same time having a deep desire to wanna come to Japan and further my training in Ashihara Karate. I've been a practitioner for 7 years now, but feel that something is amiss till i finally step foot in Japan to immerse myself in the authentic Japanese budo culture.

coming to Japan to pursue my degree and Karate is one plan, but is it a good one? what kind of considerations should i make?

would really appreciate your wisdom you guys.. ;]

Well, the first two considerations should be:

1) How is your Japanese?

2) Is there a university in Japan that offers the program you are interested in?


If you are not well versed in reading, speaking, and understanding Japanese I don't see how you could succeed in degree level studies.

You need to consider:
- Unless you attend a non-Japanese university such as Temple University in Japan, you will need to spend some time learning the local language so that you can keep up with the classes in your university, of course held in the Japanese language - which may take a year or two of full-time, intensive study if you don't speak the language now. Funds for that study is another thing to consider.
- Also you'd need to think about where you want to work after you complete your studies; if in Japan, a degree from a Japanese university may be worth it. But if not....

thanks for the reply..
yea, it appears that Temple Uni have been a popular choice for an English speaking uni. i was considering Waseda and do international studies there, but now would rather stick to doing Pharma Science after thinking abt future prospects.

hmmm, i don't see myself residing in Japan for good, though there's a possibility I would.. but are Pharma Science degrees taken in Japan unis highly regarded internationally? even so, there's not many, if not no uni conducts such courses in English huh.