Even University of Tokyo grad school applicants miss this: before you contact a professor, do you actually know how to find their papers? 📚

"I've found the professor I want to apply to!" Great. Then I usually ask one more question:

"Have you read this professor's recent papers?"

The answer is often: "…Not yet."

I've advised students preparing for graduate school at Japanese national universities such as the University of Tokyo, and some of them didn't know at first where to find Japanese academic papers.

A lot of people look for a professor like this:

Google search → university website → read the professor's profile → pick the professor

But if you're serious about applying to grad school in Japan, I suggest one more step:

Read the professor's papers.

If you haven't read a professor's research, how do you know they're really a good fit for you?

① Isn't the professor's university page enough?

Say you want to research "multicultural coexistence" (多文化共生).

You find a professor whose university page says:

Research areas:

Multicultural coexistence, education for foreign residents, sociology of education

You think: "This is the one! It's so close to my research!" Hold on.

"Multicultural coexistence" can cover a huge range of different research.

For example:

・Schooling for foreign children

・Foreign workers

・Immigration policy

・Local communities

・Language education

・Identity

・Intercultural communication

The research methods can be completely different too.

Some people do interviews.

Some do fieldwork.

Some analyze policy documents.

And some use large-scale statistical data.

So:

Same research-area keywords ≠ same research direction.

On top of that, the profile on a university website doesn't always fully reflect the research questions the professor cares most about right now.

The most direct way to find out what a professor is "actually researching now" is to:

Read their papers from the last few years.

② Where do you find papers? Google? 🔍

Of course you can use Google.

Google Scholar works well too.

But if you're applying to grad school in Japan, I strongly recommend remembering two names first:

⚫︎ CiNii Research

⚫︎ J-STAGE

Both are very useful platforms for finding Japanese academic material.

CiNii Research https://cir.nii.ac.jp/

lets you search Japanese papers, research materials, researchers and other academic information.

J-STAGE https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/browse/-char/ja

has many academic journals and papers published by Japanese academic societies, associations, research institutions and others.

So if you're looking for a professor in Japan right now, try this once:

Paste the professor's Japanese name straight into CiNii Research.

You may find a lot of research you never knew about.

③ Once you've found a professor, do these 4 things first

Say you already have a professor in mind.

Don't rush to read every paper they've written from the first page to the last.

Start with these 4 things.

① Look at papers from the last few years

Don't just read their landmark work from 10 years ago.

Professors' research directions change too.

So I usually suggest checking their research output from the last few years first.

② Look for recurring keywords

Do certain keywords keep showing up in the professor's recent papers?

For example:

"外国人児童" (foreign children)

"高校進学" (going on to high school)

"多文化共生" (multicultural coexistence)

"地域社会" (local community)

If some words keep appearing, that's probably a research direction the professor has been focusing on in recent years.

③ Look at who they study

Who is the professor researching?

Children?

University students?

Teachers?

Foreign workers?

Companies?

Local governments?

Even within the same field, different subjects can mean very different research in practice.

④ Look at their methods

What methods does the professor usually use?

Interviews?

Surveys?

Fieldwork?

Text analysis?

Statistical analysis?

Experiments?

This matters a lot too.

Because grad school isn't only about deciding "what to research."

You also have to learn:

"How to research."

④ Don't search only by the professor's name

If you haven't found a professor yet, I'd actually recommend a different approach.

Search your research keywords directly.

For example, say you want to study:

"How do foreigners working in Japan build social relationships through local community activities?"

You could try searching:

外国人労働者 × 地域社会

外国人住民 × 多文化共生

外国人 × 地域参加

Then look at:

Which researchers keep writing about this topic?

That way you may discover a professor you'd never heard of.

And their research direction may suit you better than a professor you first found because of "university rankings."

So you can also look for a professor the other way around:

Research question → keywords → papers → professor → university

Instead of:

University rankings → university → professor → research topic as an afterthought

This order matters a lot for anyone preparing for grad school.

⑤ Once you've found a paper, what should you actually read?

Then comes another question.

"I found the PDF, but it's 20 pages… do I have to read all of it? 😵‍💫"

If at this first stage you only want to check the professor's research direction, you don't need to read it closely word by word right away.

Start by finding these 5 parts:

① Research purpose

What question is this paper trying to answer?

② Prior research

What do earlier studies already know? What questions are still unresolved?

③ Methods

How did the author do the research? Interviews? Surveys? Fieldwork? Statistics?

④ Findings

What did they find in the end?

⑤ Future issues

What are the study's limitations?

What could be researched next?

I especially recommend paying attention to the "future issues."

Because when writing a research proposal, a lot of students think:

"I have to find a topic nobody has ever researched!"

Not necessarily.

Research topics often grow gradually out of:

What have others already studied?

　↓

What's still unresolved?

　 ↓

So what can I research next?

That's how they develop.

⑥ This is Research Fit

When it comes to applying to grad school in Japan, there's one concept I care about a lot:

Research Fit

Simply put:

Do your research and the professor's research actually match?

For example:

❌ "I want to research education, so I'd like to study under Professor ○○."

That's too broad. Instead:

⭕ "I want to research ○○. After reading your recent work, I noticed that you mainly use ○○ methods to study ○○ issues, which is closely related to the ○○ I want to research."

That's much more specific.

But careful! I'm not telling you to list a pile of the professor's paper titles in your email to prove:

"Look, Professor! I've read them all!" What really matters is:

You genuinely understand why this professor is a good fit for your research.

That's Research Fit.

⑦ Finding papers ≠ knowing how to read them

This is another problem many students only discover after starting grad school. You may already know how to:

Search for papers.

But what grad school really requires is:

Find papers → read papers → summarize key points → think → explain in your own words → discuss with others

These skills don't appear automatically just because you passed the N1.

For example, once you're in a Japanese grad school, the professor might suddenly ask you in a seminar (ゼミ):

"What is this paper's research problem?"

"Why did the author use this method?"

"Do you agree with the author's conclusion?"

"How does this paper relate to your research?"

At that point, you need more than "Japanese reading skills."

You need:

The ability to do research in Japanese.

So I strongly recommend that students preparing for grad school not wait until they're admitted to start reading academic papers.

You can start practicing now:

1 paper a week → summarize key points → explain in your own words

It doesn't have to be perfect at first.

The point is to gradually get used to "research Japanese."

⑧ Try this small exercise today 📚

If you already have a professor you want to apply to, here's one thing you can try today.

Search the professor's name and find their recent papers.

Then answer these 3 questions:

① What has this professor been researching recently?

② What research methods do they mainly use?

③ Where does my research connect with theirs?

If you can answer all three in your own words, you already understand this professor a step better than if you'd only read the university website.

And you'll use these three questions again later, when you write your research proposal, contact the professor and prepare for interviews.

Because in the interview, the professor will very likely go on to ask:

"Why do you want to do research with me?"

They might even ask:

"Why come to Japan to do this research instead of doing it in your own country?"

"Because I like Japan." Is that answer enough? 🤔

🌸 About Risa

I'm Risa, from Japan 🇯🇵

I hold two master's degrees in education, from Tokyo Gakugei University and Beijing Normal University.

4 years advising international students on graduate admissions, mainly helping them prepare research proposals, contact professors and get ready for Japanese grad school interviews.

Students I've advised have been admitted to graduate schools at Japanese national universities including the University of Tokyo, Kyoto University, Osaka University and the University of Tsukuba.

I want to share grad school information that only Japanese people and those inside Japanese education know, in a simple, easy-to-understand way, with everyone who wants to come to Japan for grad school 📚🇯🇵

Threads: @risa.jp.daigakuin⁠