Grad school in Japan

[vwitsrainingwv]

Hello! I'm new to the forum, hehehe! I have a question about grad school or med school in japan. I'm currenly doing my undergrad education here in USA and I really want to go to japan, even thinking about living there . Is it better to go to med school here in America or in Japan? (Sorry, I know this is kind of a general question ) Do you need a B.A in pre-med or bio to get into med school in japan? I checked some schools in japan, but it doesn't really say much about what kind of B.A you need, only the tests that you need to take and stuff. If anyone could help me that would be great!!

[Mars Man]

I'll try to see if I can get some more detail on this. Off the top of my head, for the moment, I'd say that it would be better to do some prelimary med study there. One thing that would be needed, as far as I can see at the moment, is a good command of spoken and written Japanese.

I may not be able to get any information or it may take a good long while, but I'll see what I can do. AND

Welcome to the forum. If you are interested in Japan, and want to learn more about it and all, it's a good place to stick around at ! MM

[taehyun]

I'm PhD student in Japan, and in my humble opinion, especially for medicine Japan is not the best option.All foreigners I know make fun of the Japanese physicians.
Still, Japan provides excellent conditions for their graduate students.The point is to enter well financed lab, otherwise you will have to work with very dangerous materials without the full nessecary precautions(as one of my friends does now), and won't be able to go to conferences.
It is essential that your professor speaks good English,otherwise the communication with him/her will be imossible=> you might not be able to graduate.
In addition, in most universities in Japan it is easy to take Mdegree,people write it in 6 months.
If you still haven't desided to go for PhD or not, I suggest you be quite clear with it when you apply in any Japanese university.
Good luck!

[Dr. J. M.]

I guess Japan lags somewhat behind the Western world concerning natural sciences (except robotics maybe). This is not because Japan is inferior, mind you. The problem is simple: Most scientific literature is produced in English. European countries also produce a neat amount of science and are easily translated into English. It takes some time to translate it into Japanese, as most Japanese are not proficient enough to read it in English. If this translation happens at all, that is.
So I'd say, you shouldn't study there unless you are very fluent (even on a technical level) in Japanese.
Please take my statement with a grain of salt, I may be wrong.

[vwitsrainingwv]

Thanks for replying! I just realized that i posted this in the wrong section, hehehe! Anywho, I'll graduate with at least 3 yrs of learning japanese and in my fourth year, i'm going to study there for a year. My plan is to graduate with a B.A. in America and then try to teach in Japan for a couple of years to gain even more knowledge of the language. Is that enough? If not, i was thinking of going to a language school there as well. would that be ok? I heard that sometimes the language schools also help you prepare for entrance exams and stuff, no?
I also had a question about how it works, b/c i heard that in japan students go to undergrad for 6 yrs and then could become a doctor, but i dunno if that true or not?

[Dr. J. M.]

I don't know whether this is enough to actually study in Japan, because I cannot speak Japanese. You have to take into account that studying in a different language is something different from just speaking this language properly. For example you have to be familiar with all the termini technici in this language, especially when you already possess a certain degree from an eduction in another language (you have always worked with your designation for a process/concept/instrument they have always worked with theirs; they expect their students at this point to know these terms.).
I also don't know that much about tertiary education in Japan to answer your second question.
Please bear in mind that I don't want to discourage you in any way with my posts, I just want you to be aware of the difficulties you may have to face.
And once again take everything I've written with a grain of salt, because I only have the German and American systems in mind and no such experience with the Japanese system ^^

[vwitsrainingwv]

Yeah, i know it'll be difficult, i think it's better when ppl tell me the hard parts b/c its better to know these things now! In fact, thank you!! hehehe!! i need to study my butt off! hehehe!! anywho, i was wondering if anyone knew if you need a B.A. in bio or pre-med or something like that to get into med school in japan. i looked at different schools and it doesn't really say what kind of B.A. you need, it just says the tests you need to take and stuff. does anyone know? did anyone go to med school in japan who is from another country?

[bexchurnside]

Originally Posted by Dr. J. M.

I guess Japan lags somewhat behind the Western world concerning natural sciences (except robotics maybe). This is not because Japan is inferior, mind you. The problem is simple: Most scientific literature is produced in English. European countries also produce a neat amount of science and are easily translated into English. It takes some time to translate it into Japanese, as most Japanese are not proficient enough to read it in English. If this translation happens at all, that is.
So I'd say, you shouldn't study there unless you are very fluent (even on a technical level) in Japanese.
Please take my statement with a grain of salt, I may be wrong.

What? I thought them Japanese were ahead of us in technology! What about Sony, Toyota, Mitsubishi? I thought they were better than the Yanks with Fords and GM and General Electric!

[Dr. J. M.]

Originally Posted by bexchurnside

What? I thought them Japanese were ahead of us in technology! What about Sony, Toyota, Mitsubishi? I thought they were better than the Yanks with Fords and GM and General Electric!

Well, they are somewhat ahead in entertainment technology like TV's or video-game consoles. But not in real natural science. You know, stuff like "physics", "chemistry" and "biology". Thus their cars are better than American ones (but not better than German ones ;) ) and they have more electronic gadgets but this only counts as engineering (if looked at charitably.), but not as natural science.

[Gentleman10]

Hmm, I don't have any evidence to post, but you've got to trust me on this one: don't go to Japan to study to be a doctor. The skills you will learn will be nowhere near to what you learn here. It really comes off kind of funny to me to even think this when you live in America to begin with, I would hope you know that by an international standard that America by far has the best medical system in the world (not trying to be arrogant, just stating the facts).
You may have an interest in Japan, but you should probably keep that interest seperated from your medical career. Based off of your posts/responses I'm assuming that you have plenty of time before entering grad school (or college?), but from what I can tell, grad school ain't no joke, so by the time you start applying to one, you'll probably be focusing on it more seriously (ie which American schools you'll be applying to.
Take Care