Compass
The guide
Osaka & Kyoto
Japan · Asia-Pacific
Japan's second centre: heavy industry, electronics and materials research in Osaka, and one of Asia's strongest research universities in Kyoto half an hour away.
Who this suits, and who it doesn’t
Suits you if you want funded research or engineering in Japan and will commit to the language. Look elsewhere if you want an English-speaking career, or the density of international employers — that is Tokyo, and even there it is smaller than people expect.
The catch, and the way in
The catch
Less international than Tokyo, so Japanese is needed sooner, and the graduate hiring calendar is rigid in a way that catches foreigners out.
The way in
MEXT government scholarships cover tuition, travel and a monthly allowance for research and undergraduate students alike, and national universities charge internationals the same fees as Japanese students.
Living there
What living here is actually like
Osaka is the informal, food-obsessed counterweight to Tokyo; Kyoto next door is smaller, older and stricter about how things are done. Rents are meaningfully below Tokyo's, transport is superb and neither city needs a car. Being visibly foreign registers more here than in the capital, in both the warm and the awkward senses.
How the money works
National university fees are set nationally and are identical for international students, which makes Japan much cheaper to study in than its reputation suggests; the government scholarship removes them entirely and adds a monthly allowance. Living costs are dominated by rent and by the deposits and guarantor requirements that make moving in expensive at the start rather than each month.Described in shape rather than figures on purpose: rents and salaries move every year and we cannot keep numbers true, but what is expensive and what quietly eats income stays true for far longer.
The language you actually need
Research groups will use English on paper and Japanese in the room, and the hiring system expects business-level Japanese from anyone joining a Japanese company. English-track degrees are growing, but treat them as a way in rather than as a way to avoid learning the language.
The work that clusters here
Fields with a real market in this city
Engineering · Natural Sciences · Computer Science · Arts & Design