> A PhD also makes it more difficult to find a job.
I am not sure if this is true or not. But what little I can draw upon, lacking a source for statistics, is only from a major school with a famous engineering and science department. So I am pretty sure what I have observed won't hold on a national level.
> I think that one of the main reasons why the status quo is so impenetrable is precisely because of the racial and cultural homogeneity of the country. I presume you are in Tokyo, where the culture is at least somewhat mitigated by the presence of foreign nationals and their foreign employees, but as I'm sure you know, things get pretty monotonic when you step out into the other major cities.
I whole-heartedly agree, I usually refer to the "acceptance" of foreigner behaviour as a double-edged sword. It allows us to violate the rules to make a point, but it also allows for the "natives" to dismiss our actions as those of someone much like a child.
I am not sure if this is true or not. But what little I can draw upon, lacking a source for statistics, is only from a major school with a famous engineering and science department. So I am pretty sure what I have observed won't hold on a national level.
> I think that one of the main reasons why the status quo is so impenetrable is precisely because of the racial and cultural homogeneity of the country. I presume you are in Tokyo, where the culture is at least somewhat mitigated by the presence of foreign nationals and their foreign employees, but as I'm sure you know, things get pretty monotonic when you step out into the other major cities.
I whole-heartedly agree, I usually refer to the "acceptance" of foreigner behaviour as a double-edged sword. It allows us to violate the rules to make a point, but it also allows for the "natives" to dismiss our actions as those of someone much like a child.