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Doing Masters in Japan? 2011/4/10 11:36
皆さんこんにちは!
I'm currently a 19 year-old undergraduate electronic engineering student in New Zealand. I was wondering about the process of doing a Masters degree in Japan after I graduate here. I've looked around on the internet, but can't seem to find anything solid on this topic, or to do with engineering. Does anyone have any experience that they could share to do with the process of moving to Japan for Masters? Particularly in the field of engineering. : )

I lived in Japan for 6 months as an exchange student, 5 years ago. My Japanese isn't currently fantastic, but I'm confident I could get it up to at least JLPT level 2 before I graduate here. I would of course plan on living in Japan after taking a Masters degree there. I really love Japan and it's culture.

I'm really unsure of where I could go for my field of study in Japan though (which universities, etc). Google didn't seem to be too useful when searching for electronic engineering in Japan, which is odd seeing as Japan is considered the world-leader in this field. I'm mostly interested in the field of robotics/mechatronics and the like. I suppose my ambition would be to create electronic machines/robots that change the world. Have to aim high right? haha. But that aside, I am interested in all electronics in general.

Any information on the topic would be greatly appreciated. ありがとうございます。 :D
by Joejimufu  

Pretty troublesome 2011/4/11 04:33
I'm currently an undergraduate student thinking about doing MS, and PhD in Japan as well. Some things I've found out so far are that it's more or less impossible to go there without a scholarship - the school fees at the unis I'm interested in are insane. Getting the scholarship is quite difficult too, because there aren't that many available for non-Asian countries. And for Monbukagakusho, if it is going to be offered considering the events right now, the process is pretty complicated. You have to show them abstract of your graduation thesis, have a TOEFL certificate, propose your research in Japan, and in the interview, they can ask you anything from your field to Japanese history topics. I believe good grades are welcome too and there's a Japanese test as well, but it doesn't seem to have much impact. The whole system is really crazy and even my Japanese friend has problems understanding it.
He also told me that most foreign students, who study the same majors as the Japanese guys, contacted a professor they liked, and if he decided he wanted them, they were lucky, because the very same professor is the one preparing the exam for foreign students, so he can make it so that the person is accepted. But this way, there's no scholarship plus I'd be worried about such a thing, as it looks a bit shady.
As for the field, I think you should read properly all the information about majors, because often the names can be misleading. There are majors in English only as well, but much fewer than Japanese ones of course.
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