Grad school in Japan

[kdynamic]

Hi there,
I have lately been thinking about applying to grad school in Japan. My focus is design (industrial and automotive mostly, but I'd also be interested in other areas), and I know there are great design schools in Japan. I'm just having trouble finding them. :confused: I do research online, but I'm just not seeing the kinds of detailed, helpful web sites American schools seem to all have. Any one have ideas for how to get lots of good info?

Also, any general information about grad school in Japan would be appreciated. Such as, how are higher degrees from Japan viewed internationally? And, is it harder to get accepted to a program as a foriegner? Are grad schools as clearly dillineated into top schools and lower-level school as undergrad is? How do i know which ones are good? Is it very expensive for international students to attend - more so than Japanese students?

I suppose I should throw out there that I will be graduating this year with BAs in art and asian studies, and that I lived in Kyoto for a year. My language ability right now is good, but not quite fluent. I passed the Nikkyu (level two) test, and I think that with a little more seriousl study I should be able to tackle the Ikkyu (level one) before applying. Conversationally, I rarely run into problems, it's just Kanji that's holding me back (I can read about 1200 or so, and I'm on a campaign to finally memorize all the jouyou kanji, but you know how it goes, it's hard :doh: ).

Arigatou gozaimasu!

[Skankster]

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Hi there,
I have lately been thinking about applying to grad school in Japan. My focus is design (industrial and automotive mostly,

Arigatou gozaimasu!

Your screwed if you go that route.
I know this Japanese guy that went to the Art Center School of Design in Pasadena. He completed with honors.

He is now working at a refrigeration company and cannot find a job in Automotive design for the life of him.

[devicenull]

wait, what? kanji is hard? since when?

if you are going to do a grad in japan at least make it something worthwhile.

need more info? contact the schools directly, most i have been hunting around at have been fairly helpful.

[Socratesabroad]

Why Japan?

The absence of info and publicly available resources should indicate to you that J grad schools, rather short of funds from what I've seen, don't invest in slick brochures and publicity.

Why not do what I did and try China instead? The price is a lot less and in basic sciences or engineering the education would be equivalent (as gauged by the fact that most US grad school students in the sciences are foreigners and often Chinese).

FWIW, if you went to a top-tier school - U Tokyo, Kyoto, Waseda, Keio - you'd have name recognition outside Japan, but otherwise I doubt many people outside of Japan would even know the school's name. If you just want the piece of paper/education, then a Chinese grad school would be just as good in my book.

[Charles]

Right, Art Center in Pasadena is the world-reknown school for automotive design, and it's no guarantee of a job either. I know Art Center pretty well since I used to give design lectures to their students.

If you're going to look for a design school in Japan, you'll more than likely have to start at the top, Tougei, Toukyou geijutsu daigaku. But I'm warning you, all my nihonjin professors were quite insistent that I should not to do grad school in Japan, they all said it is vastly inferior to any US grad school. Their biggest complaint was that the grad students don't do much of their own work, they just do all the work for their professors, who take all the credit. Of course these same professors had no qualms about doing exactly the same thing in their US university positions.

[kamome]

Japanese higher education is, in general, a joke and not well-recognized outside of Japan. A higher degree from a J-university will likely make it easier for you to get a job in Japan, but not in the U.S. Stick to a U.S. university, a degree from which will be universally respected in almost any country.

[ultragaijin]

Japanese higher education is, in general, a joke and not well-recognized outside of Japan.

That's why you find that many Japanese students go to grad school abroad. Not for the "foreign" experience or to learn English, but because that's where you can get a serious education. I also know a number of Japanese companies even pay for their employees to go abroad for higher level education.