So I'm planning on moving to Japan soon to pursue a PhD in computer engineering/arch (in English) at a fairly well ranked school in Tokyo. I have already gotten approval from a professor to join their lab and am working on a proposal.
Problem, I only have a professional masters from the US and have next to zero research experience (no publications, never written any real academic works, just did some paper replications at most). I've read that PhD programs in Japan throw you straight into your thesis project, so I'm a bit worried about this. I told the professor about my degree, and he really didn't seem too worried about it. However, as I'm trying to put together this proposal I feel like I might be getting a bit in over my head. I have some starter topics that I have some general interest in, but I feel like they're too shallow or have too many issues with the to be viable for a thesis topic. I also just don't know enough about the newest research to be sure.
*On a side note, I find myself really struggling to read papers in depth. I can get the gist of what they're doing and appreciate the ideas/problems, but not deeper into the potential flaws etc. I think it might be because I am trying to read too many papers on too broad of a topic, and just can't get invested in any single one. Having no research experience definitely does not help with this since I don't know what to look for. Either that or I'm really just cut out for industry; solving problems and implementing solutions rather than academia…
To others that have done a PhD in Japan (or any country where the PhD system is similar), do you have any experience or advice? Should I just trust the professor and go in without any experience? Should I rethink my plan (I kind of feel bad pulling out now that he's already sent an approval letter)? I think getting a PhD would be pretty neat, but I don't feel like I absolutely need to have one. Also I should mention that I'm pretty much going to be self funded (money really isn't an issue for me so long as this doesn't take more than 5 years). Also, I'm planning to go to Japan 6 months in advance for language school before enrollment.
Ty.
by SnowSwanJohn