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human
Academia in Japan

Hi!

I'm a physics student, currently in Spain and would love to start my academic career in Japan. Can someone give me some insight on ways to start, or of it's possible at all for a foreigner to get to those jobs?
gpt
For grad study, universities in Japan do not in principle pay grad students. Your best bet for funding is to apply for a MEXT scholarship. The application process for MEXT is extremely long and bureaucratic, so get started early. There are a tiny handful courses that do offer full funding, so they're another option. Your final option is to apply unfunded and hope you can gather enough jobs and scholarships to cover your expenses, this is obviously a bit risky.

For a postdoc, either apply to labs/universities directly or via JSPS. Postdocs are relatively plentiful in Japan and it's certainly possible for a non-Japanese person to do this for 1-3 years. They're fairly well paid, JSPS generally pays better than direct hire.

For faculty jobs, good luck. Staying long-term and making a permanent career will be extremely difficult. Aside from the fact that making a career out of academia is difficult anywhere in the world, lots of Japanese universities have a policy of not giving tenure to non-Japanese people.