Having graduated college last year, I'm interested in soon getting my MBA. Currently I work at a company in America but I'm hoping once we get Japanese customers, that I'll be able to move and work there. So my question is related to the process of getting an MBA and I have a few different scenarios I'd like some thoughts on.

→　Beginning an MBA in America, transferring it to a Japanese college if I ever move. Possible?
→　Finding an MBA course in America, Illinois if possible, that teaches in Japanese. Does such a thing exist? I think it'd be a good opportunity to force myself into studying the language harder than ever before, while also getting a degree.
→　Just wait to pursue an MBA when I (hopefully) move to Japan in the near future. Again, would like to use an MBA course in Japanese for the language benefits too.

So any advice? I'm pretty much set on living in Japan as soon as reasonably possible, but nothing is certain. I also want to get an MBA. Should I begin pursuing it now or just keep improving my Japanese and wait until I move? Thanks.

I know someone that works at the director/executive level at a very well known game company that's made some very popular RPGs. He's on a first name basis with many of the CEOs that run the American companies in Japan as well.

He's often been asked how he reached that place and has given advice to some of my friends that were interested in landing in a similar place as he did. It pretty much came down to one thing, go to an Ivy league MBA program. He got his position simply from attending a party, shaking hands with the head of HR for said game company and telling him he liked that series; guy gave him a job on the spot. Many of those CEOs that I mentioned above were also some of his graduating classmates.

On the issue of MBA in Japan or in America. He said to always go with getting it in America. Japanese MBAs are a joke. There's additional evidence to support this, and he said pretty much the same thing, when Japanese companies are interested in hiring a foreigner for a position high in the company they always look for people overseas with credentials from overseas. That's not to say there aren't companies that hire from schools in Japan, but they probably aren't hiring foreigners that took an MBA at a Japanese school.

This probably isn't what you want to hear since you want to get to Japan, but that's how it is. Obviously it has a lot to do with your goals in life. This guy was aiming high, he wanted to make huge impacts on something he loved, games, and realized he could do more from the top than the bottom or middle. He went into some serious debt by going to an Ivy League school but I'd say it paid off in the long run.

vix86 Wrote:Japanese MBAs are a joke.

Does this apply to most or all Japanese Master's degrees? I'm seriously considering going to Japan for my Master's in a couple of years (in the field of electrical/electronic engineering), assuming I can get the MEXT scholarship. Considering the technological standing of Japan, I would have thought It'd be pretty close to what I could get in the US, but significantly cheaper (practically free) and in Japan (where I'd like to get significant enough language experience for it to be of use in a business setting).

Since it would be funded, I still might do it (not like a Master's would raise my pay grade much, if at all), but I'd still like to know if the resulting certification would even be worth the paper it was printed on back in the States...

And not to pull this further away from the OP, but is there anything I should be aware of regarding MEXT?

[Zgarbas]

I like my programme and genuinely enjoy grad school here, but from what I've heard from exchange students it seems that they are of lower quality than in the US and other countries. It's also very detached and you are expected to do a lot on your own, and you experience will vary a lot depending on your luck with your advisor. Some of my colleagues are quite miserable because of that, others satisfied.
'It depends' is probably not what you wanted to hear :p

Here is a MBA program at the University of Hawaii at Manou http://shidler.hawaii.edu/ft-mba/japan

heard good things about their Japanese undergrad program so I can assume they should have a similar reputation with the MBA program

TheVinster Wrote:So any advice? I'm pretty much set on living in Japan as soon as reasonably possible, but nothing is certain.

For family reasons? Have you lived in Japan before? I'd recommend getting an education elsewhere and not risk trying your career to here, given how tenuous the situation is.

Exhibit A - see the comments below this post
http://www.japantoday.com/category/opini...begins-now

Those numbers look very high to me if you want to get hired. Very high rate of job securement for graduates.

ryuudou Wrote:Those numbers look very high to me if you want to get hired Very high rate of job securement for graduates.

The problem is what happens after you get hired...

Which one? That 40% of new hires switch employers after 3 or 4 years? That's relatively normal if it's talking about university grads, and still the 97% of grads securing jobs stat is phenomenal.

I don't know what all of this negatively toward Japan comes from. Japan has the 3rd largest economy in the world. That alone is a great reason to work there. Keihanshin (Osaka Kyoto Kobe) alone outperforms the majority of entire countries in Europe.

Tokyo is a beautiful cyberpunk-like metropolis with new stuff and developments popping up all of the time. I wouldn't have Japan any other way. I do have a neon city fetish though.

sholum Wrote:Does this apply to most or all Japanese Master's degrees?

Hell no. Japan has a lot top rate Master and Doctorate programs. There are professors doing good research in Japan that has a huge impact. Its just that there are some programs that just don't match the snuff of programs in other countries. Now, how these programs translate from a graduate degree into a job in Japan is a different matter.

I've heard it stated in the past that job hunting as a graduate can be a little bit more difficult and sometimes requires you to depend on your advisor's connections in the industry to land a job. As a foreigner though, everything is always a little different for you. Those numbers for grads securing jobs that were mentioned, aren't numbers for "foreign students securing jobs in Japan" they are for Japanese undergraduates. I couldn't tell you how easy it would be to land a job coming out of a grad program, but I'd be prepared to work hard for a job in Japan if I were you, and to start looking around and talking to people way in advance of graduating; say a year or so? That said, I think STEM degrees in Japan have the best prospects for jobs, especially as a foreigner since you can leverage your language skills as well.

Lots of different opinions of course, and still I'm a bit unsure on what to do. I do live near a relatively well-known school for its MBAs in Northwestern University. I'll spend a little bit longer thinking, but something several of the people here are ignoring is that I do work at a company already, and am hoping to work in Japan on behalf of them. This won't happen until we get Japanese customers, but if it does happen that'd be my in.

That deal is better IMO, especially if you can negotiate a nice expat package. A guy I know in Japan works for a phone insurance company (one of those "Pay $150 bucks and if you break your phone in the first year, we replace it" deals) that does service for Japan. Couple years ago his company moved him to Japan since he was the only person in the company that really understood his section. He makes $100k+ a year, has housing completely taken care of (nice place from what I hear), gets 2 trips back to the states each year for a week or so via Business class, and a few other perks that I'm not recalling. So ya, if you like your company, definitely try and do that.

Although I never have stayed in a Holiday Inn Express, nor have I ever played one on TV, I do have an MBA.

A few thoughts.

If you are planning on staying with your company it doesn't really matter much where you get your MBA. Most of it is just signalling theory. Bright kids go for the MBA and the brightest [or those without any concept of work life balance] tend to go for the Ivy League schools. Your company already knows you. Just get those letters.

You might want to consider if they are willing to pay for it and what they are willing to pay for. If they are not willing to pay your way, tread carefully.

If you want an in for working in Japan, the JLPT and the ability to function in Japanese will matter more. Granted doing your degree in Japanese will help on that. However just because you can get accepted into a program, if your language skills are not up to snuff you will struggle. I've seen it be a problem. Girl [from Hong Kong in Canada] graduated but she had some problems which I just could not help her with. She just didn't have the vocab to have certain concepts explained.

You might want to hedge your bets if your company goes under or goes in a separate direction or you want to go elsewhere. The Ivy League is where its at internationally [see the first point], toss in a few Euro schools. In the US from what I understand there is the Ivy League and usually a local school where the local elite send their kids. Apparently the preferred Ivy League school can vary from region to region also even among the HYP. I forget if this is an MBA thing or an undergrad thing. Get degree from a big name place and you are set where ever you go. If you have a degree from a school that nobody has heard of... meh. OTOH letters are better than no letters, OTOOH 2 years is a lot of lost income.

Consider part time or executive programs.


Hopefully some of this will apply.

I found it to be an insanely easy two years. I did some Bschool courses in undergrad and found the grad courses required less effort but I study smart most MBA students don't. I could tell you stories... OK 2 stories.
YMMV. One course I was helping an undergrad. She was doing the equivilent course I was [options and futures] and aside from 1 project worth 10% which I didn't bother with as I didn't need the marks the two courses were the exact same in every way.

One thing to at least consider is that at certain levels there are scholarships for school in Japan. If you got such a scholarship, then you could not have to pay for things.

That would be cool right?

In case it wasn't clear from what I said earlier. Ivy League MBA programs may not be superior to other MBA programs around the US, I couldn't say since I haven't researched it a lot. The thing that Ivy League schools get you though is connections with (eventual) influential people, and those are potentially way more valuable. That's what my 'game company' acquaintance was also trying to emphasize. But again as I said above, if you aren't gunning to rule the world or a company, then you have way more options. It depends on your goals.