Looking for AI (Computer Vision) research labs in Japan for PhD

Hi everyone!

I’m currently a Master’s student in AI in Italy, and I’m doing my thesis internship at a research center, where I’m working on Vision-Language Models (VLMs).

I’m starting to think about pursuing a PhD in Japan, and I was wondering if anyone here could recommend strong research labs, universities, or institutes in AI (especially in computer vision).

My main interests are:

• deep learning for computer vision
• vision-language models (what I’m currently working on)
• generative AI (I’d also be very interested in exploring this direction)

I’d love to hear:

• which universities or labs are considered top-tier
• any well-known professors or research groups I should look into
• how the research environment in Japan compares to Europe

Also, if anyone has personal experience doing a PhD in Japan, I’d really appreciate any advice!

Thanks a lot 💖