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Tokyo

Japan · Asia-Pacific

Robotics, precision manufacturing and materials research, and the world's animation and games industry.

Who this suits, and who it doesn’t

Suits you if you want precision engineering, materials or animation at world level and will learn Japanese. Look elsewhere if you need to change employers freely. The hiring system is unusually rigid about when and how you apply, especially for graduates.

The catch, and the way in

The catch

Japanese is required for most jobs, and the hiring system is unusually rigid about when you apply.

The way in

The MEXT government scholarship, plus a growing set of English-taught degrees at the larger universities.

Living there

What living here is actually like

Orderly, quiet in public, and impeccably run: trains to the second, and a level of everyday reliability that is hard to describe until you live in it. Apartments are small and commutes are long and crowded. It's a place where the rules are largely unwritten, and foreigners often find that politeness and distance aren't the same thing as inclusion.

How the money works

Tokyo is expensive but less so than commonly assumed, and the MEXT scholarship covers tuition with a monthly stipend. Housing is small rather than costly, and health insurance is affordable and mandatory. Renting privately as a foreigner can require a guarantor, which is an administrative hurdle worth knowing about before arrival.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

Japanese is required for most employment, and functional Japanese is the difference between visiting and living. English-taught degrees are growing at the larger universities, and research groups often operate in English. The job market largely doesn't.

The work that clusters here

The kinds of work Tokyo is a route into, each with what it actually involves, and what the catch is.

Who is named here

Not a ranking and not in order of merit. These are the places a subject is actually studied and taught at in this city, so you have something to search for.

  • The University of Tokyo

    • Engineering
    • Natural Sciences
    • Law
    • Humanities & Social Sciences
    • Medicine & Health

    Some English-taught programmes

  • Waseda University

    • Humanities & Social Sciences
    • Business & Economics
    • Law

    Degrees taught in English

  • Keio University

    • Business & Economics
    • Medicine & Health
    • Law

    Some English-taught programmes

Language of teaching moves within a cycle, so check it on the university’s own page for your own entry year.