I am a computer science/mathematics major planning on doing my Ph.D is scientific computing. For anyone who doesn't know, that involves things like simulating physics inside of computers. What is the feasibility of going to Japan, at least long enough to see if really want to move there? Are there lots of scientific computing jobs in Japan? I am currently working for a CFD company with a branch in Japan, but I haven't had much contact with that branch. I'm also not sure if they only deal with customers or actual development. Or where can I find information about what kind of jobs are available? Also, are there any US schools with good computer science programs which offer taking a semester (or two) trip to Japan for classes (or something similar)? I would go to graduate school in Japan except I am still learning the language.
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You can probably get into a japanese university for grad school in a technical field, a few people i know have accomplished this without having anywhere near a full grasp of the language at the time of their application (friends from America, and one of my Chinese friends in Shanghai). They go there and were/are taking intensive japanese language courses (including technical japanese language), working in the lab and easing into subject related courses. Sure, there should be some schools in the US that will let you have a semester or two abroad. I go to Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, we have a strong partnership with Tokyo University for instance. Graduate students and faculty at least come to and from Tokyo once a year for a duration of approximately 2 weeks only, but something longer is in the realm of possibility i would forsee. Last year we hosted them, this year some of us go. Graduate school curriculum in America still has requirements, but you can get away with tailoring things specifically to what you want to do (much moreso than in undergrad). If you wanted to go to japan, you could probably negotiate it with your department, and they can find funding for it, or you can find programs that will fund science/engineering students to go on study abroad terms like this. In this way, it is possible to find/make opportunities to spend maybe a "long enough" time to see if you really want to move there. Extensions aside, what i know for certain you easily can do is get a summer internship at a company or university. I interned at a nuclear engineering lab in Osaka University; however, I was getting offers from a few universities (Tokyo U, Sendai, Kyoto, Tohoku). I chose to go to Osaka due to my interest in that specific research topic available for me to work on, among other reasons. I coordinated a program through Argonne National Lab, the American Nuclear Society, the Japanese Atomic Energy Association, and Osaka University to fund everything and a lot more. This goes back to what i was saying earlier, in grad school you can tailor things like this, and it will actually work out. And, i mentioned the multitude of universities that were willing to host me for the summer for the reasons of showing that it is not so difficult to coordinate something like this. What is the job market out there for science/math PhD holders? That i could not say with such knowledge, most students i met were going for their masters and were trying to insert themselves into an industry position thereafter. I did meet a few PhD students, but never asked them this particular question. If you get a PhD in america, or in japan, you can still work there someday though is the point. People on yahoo! answers tend to tell everyone how impossible it is. But, the point is, people should really speak for themselves, and not about what they do not know about. Engineers/scientists, with the proper connections, can get into the workforce there. I know a lot of people who have done it. I would caution you about getting a PhD in Japan though, two americans i know who have completed their degree have frankly told me they felt "cheated" with their education in Japan. Japanese education is evidently not all popular rumor has cranked it up to be (i have also gleaned this firsthand, and believe me, it was hard to convince myself of as well). I will say you will be better off getting educated in America, you will become more capable of a scientist/engineer/mathematician. This is not to say that japanese are not capable of course, i just mean that their education is lacking when you compare it to say, good american schools. However, the plus side of being educated in japan is that you will have a wider access to more platforms in jobs, whereas if you are recruited from america your ability to locate a job will be more limited in scope. Feel free to send me a message if you have any further questions. If people give you advice on here that stems from extensions of their experience as trying to get an english teaching job, do not listen. It is a whole different story if you actually have credentials/connections.
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