I went to a British-born (non-Asian looking) doctor in Tokyo (Ebisu). There are some times when you don't want to deal with a foreign medical system, even if you can understand it & even if you believe its diagnosis is correct. He had his own private practice, and was not part of a hospital (perhaps unusual in Japan, but usual to my eyes). There are also quite a few American-run religious hospitals in big cities, they employ Japanese people but I think also Westerners. So yes, there are definitely non-Japanese doctors in Japan for foreigners to consult.
I did an exchange with Tokyo Institute of Technology. They have a very good program for foreigners, although it is mainly at graduate level. They definitely teach Japanese to foreigners with a view to you understanding technical jargon, their specific technical Japanese courses are excellent IMHO. They also taught conversational/daily use Japanese for beginners through to advanced, again very well taught but obviously you need to focus/study.
TiTech had lots of international students. I'm not sure if they teach medicine (please check their website for yourself) but they did many technical / scientific subjects, if that's your interest area. http://www.titech.ac.jp/english/graduate...index.html
At TiTech, knowing English is a big advantage, as more senior students are expected to write papers in English for worldwide publication. A friend/senpai never quite mastered English, so had to transfer to another uni during his PhD, as it wasn't really acceptable to TiTech for him to continue without knowing English. However, if you are a foreigner, people will only help you in English, not other languages eg. French, Mandarin (there were many French and also Chinese students in my classes who got a bit grumpy about this).
If you go to a Japanese university, you have to be prepared to participate in the senpai/kohai realtionships, they are absolutley important. Australia (where I'm from) really doesn't have senpai/kohai stuff, at least not until you're doing your PhD and hoping to become an academic. I've heard Germany has even less senpai/kohai feeling than Australia, so it will likely be a cultural shock.
There is also the cultural issue of academic debate. I remember the awkwardness between a visiting American academic who was happy to debate, challenge concepts, play devil's advocate (which I am used to) and the Japanese academics hosting him, who had a totally different style of academic investigation (which I didn't stay long enough to fully understand).
On the other hand, there was a lot better integration between industry and universities at TiTech than there is in Australia. Many PhD students were working on topics of direct interest to big companies like Sony, Panasonic etc, and so worked part-time for those companies. They will likely be able to continue with their research interests after their PhDs by working at those companies.
I did an exchange with Tokyo Institute of Technology. They have a very good program for foreigners, although it is mainly at graduate level. They definitely teach Japanese to foreigners with a view to you understanding technical jargon, their specific technical Japanese courses are excellent IMHO. They also taught conversational/daily use Japanese for beginners through to advanced, again very well taught but obviously you need to focus/study.
TiTech had lots of international students. I'm not sure if they teach medicine (please check their website for yourself) but they did many technical / scientific subjects, if that's your interest area. http://www.titech.ac.jp/english/graduate...index.html
At TiTech, knowing English is a big advantage, as more senior students are expected to write papers in English for worldwide publication. A friend/senpai never quite mastered English, so had to transfer to another uni during his PhD, as it wasn't really acceptable to TiTech for him to continue without knowing English. However, if you are a foreigner, people will only help you in English, not other languages eg. French, Mandarin (there were many French and also Chinese students in my classes who got a bit grumpy about this).
If you go to a Japanese university, you have to be prepared to participate in the senpai/kohai realtionships, they are absolutley important. Australia (where I'm from) really doesn't have senpai/kohai stuff, at least not until you're doing your PhD and hoping to become an academic. I've heard Germany has even less senpai/kohai feeling than Australia, so it will likely be a cultural shock.
There is also the cultural issue of academic debate. I remember the awkwardness between a visiting American academic who was happy to debate, challenge concepts, play devil's advocate (which I am used to) and the Japanese academics hosting him, who had a totally different style of academic investigation (which I didn't stay long enough to fully understand).
On the other hand, there was a lot better integration between industry and universities at TiTech than there is in Australia. Many PhD students were working on topics of direct interest to big companies like Sony, Panasonic etc, and so worked part-time for those companies. They will likely be able to continue with their research interests after their PhDs by working at those companies.