5 Things Taiwanese Students Must Know Before Applying to Graduate School in Japan: Look Beyond Rankings, Focus on Professors and Your Research Plan! 🇯🇵

“I want to go to grad school in Japan, but where do I even start?”

You've read up on it a lot, but the more you read, the more confused you get: “Should I pick a school first, or find a professor first?”

“How important is the research plan, really?”

“Do I have to have N1?”

“Should I become a kenkyusei first?”

If you have these questions too, that's completely normal. Applying to graduate school in Japan works a bit differently from Taiwan.

Especially if it's your first time preparing to study in Japan, it's easy to focus on “school rankings” and “Japanese test scores” from the very start.

But for graduate school in Japan, what often matters more is:

What do you want to research? Who is the right person to supervise you? Why did you choose this lab?

Today I've put together 5 key points you need to know before applying to graduate school in Japan.

① What is a Japanese “daigakuin”?

First, the Japanese “大学院 (だいがくいん, daigakuin)” is what we in Taiwan usually call “研究所”: graduate school.

It's mainly divided into:

修士課程 (shushi katei) = master's program

博士課程 (hakase katei) = doctoral program

But when you look up information on studying in Japan, you may also come across another term that's easy to confuse:

研究生 (けんきゅうせい, kenkyusei, research student)

Careful!

In Japan, a “kenkyusei” is usually not a master's student.

It generally means a non-regular student who isn't working toward a degree.

Some international students spend six months or a year as a kenkyusei first and then take the master's entrance exam;

others apply to the master's program directly from abroad.

So:

Wanting to do grad school in Japan ≠ having to be a kenkyusei first.

Whether you should become a kenkyusei first depends on the school's system, the professor's requirements and how prepared you are.

I'll explain this in detail in my next post.

② Don't choose a graduate school by rankings alone

“The University of Tokyo, Kyoto University, Waseda, Keio… which one is better?”

Of course, rankings and reputation are worth considering.

But if you're applying to graduate school in Japan, I'd rather you first ask:

“Does this university have a professor who's a good fit to supervise me?”

Because graduate school is quite different from undergrad.

For undergrad, you might choose the “school” and the “major” first.

But in graduate school, you usually do your own research under one supervisor.

Say you want to research “education for foreign children.”

University A is ranked very highly, but no professor there works on your topic.

University B isn't ranked as high overall, but it has a professor who has spent years researching foreign children, school education and multicultural coexistence.

In that case, University B may actually be the better fit for your research.

So what I usually recommend is:

Research topic → find a professor → look at the lab → look at the university

Not:

Check rankings first → choose a university → find a professor last.

Graduate school isn't simply about picking a “prestigious school.”

What matters more is finding your Research Fit.

③ The research plan is more than an application document

When many students first hear about the “research plan,” they think:

“Can't I just write down what I want to research?”

It's actually not that simple.

When applying to graduate school in Japan, the research plan is usually a very important document.

Requirements differ by school, but it commonly includes:

・Research background

・Research objectives

・Research questions

・Prior research

・Research methods

・Significance of the research

・References

Through your research plan, professors want to understand:

What exactly do you want to research?

Why is this question worth researching?

Who has researched it before?

How do you plan to research it?

And finishing the research plan isn't the end, either.

In the interview, professors are likely to ask follow-up questions straight from your research plan.

For example:

“Why did you choose this research topic?”

“Why are you using this research method?”

“How is your research different from prior research?”

“Why do you want to do research with me?”

So what really matters isn't:

“I've finished my research plan!”

It's: “Can I explain this research plan in my own words?”

④ Passing N1 doesn't mean you're ready for graduate school

“I passed N1, so grad school in Japan should be no problem, right?”

N1 is of course important, and many schools consider it as proof of Japanese ability when you apply.

But I want to remind everyone:

N1 Japanese and the Japanese you need in graduate school aren't quite the same.

Because once you're in graduate school, you'll be:

📚 Reading academic papers

🗣️ Joining zemi (seminar) discussions

📊 Giving research presentations

✍️ Writing reports and theses

👨‍🏫 Discussing your research with professors. What you need then goes beyond grammar, vocabulary and reading tests.

For example, a professor suddenly asks you in zemi:

“What do you think of this paper?”

You might understand every single word.

But organizing your thoughts on the spot and answering in Japanese isn't so easy.

That's why I've always felt that:

“passing N1” and “being able to do research in Japanese” are two different skills.

It's also why I put so much emphasis on Academic Japanese.

⑤ Getting into graduate school isn't the finish line

When preparing for graduate school, it's easy to treat “getting accepted” as the ultimate goal.

Find a professor.

Write the research plan.

Prepare for the interview.

Wait for the results.

And then you finally see:

Accepted! 🎉

You'll be really happy.

But the real challenge actually starts here.

At your first zemi, you may have to read a 20～30-page paper.

At your first presentation, professors and classmates will ask you questions directly.

At your first meeting with your supervisor, you'll have to explain your research progress in Japanese.

After that comes research design, data collection, conference presentations, your master's thesis… So when preparing for graduate school in Japan, I don't want you to think only about:

“How do I get in?”

You can also start thinking about:

“Once I'm in, how do I keep up?”

I believe real preparation for graduate school in Japan should be:

Find the right professor for you → prepare your research plan → pass the interview → join the lab → actually be able to do research in Japanese.

So what should your first step be?

If you're just getting started, you don't need to do everything at once.

Start by asking yourself three questions:

① What do I want to research?

② Which professors in Japan are researching this field?

③ Why do I want to do research with this professor?

If you can't answer them yet, that's okay.

That's where preparing for graduate school begins.

Coming up, I'll gradually share:

・What exactly is a kenkyusei?

・How do you find the right professor for you?

・How do you find papers on CiNii Research and J-STAGE?

・How do you prepare a research plan?

・What are professors actually looking for in the interview?

・What should you prepare after acceptance and before enrollment?

🌸 About Risa

I'm Risa, from Japan🇯🇵, and I've been a Japanese-language teacher for 15 years.

I graduated from the graduate schools of Tokyo Gakugei University and Beijing Normal University, and hold two master's degrees in education.

I currently help students who want to come to Japan for graduate school with their research plans, contacting professors and interviews, as well as the academic Japanese they'll need after enrolling.

Through this column, I hope to share “what graduate school in Japan is really like”: the things only Japanese people and those working in Japanese education know📚