Hi everyone!

I am interested in professorship in Japan, in particular related to nature and social sciences. I am planning on receiving a Ph.D. in the U.S. and learning Japanese in the meantime. I would like to know as much as possible about opportunities to teach and research such subjects as psychology in Japan.

My questions are:
- Is it possible to teach a subject in English? Some universities in different countries (such as Netherlands) adopted undergraduate and graduate degrees taught completely in English. I'm wondering whether there is such opportunity in Japan.
- If not, what level of Japanese language proficiency is required to teach a full-blown course in social sciences? What kind of standardized tests are to be taken in order to prove this proficiency?
- How hard is it to obtain a position of Professor in Japan with an American B.A. and Ph.D. and is it difficult to get a visa afterward? By the way, I'm an international student myself (I'm originally from Russia), so that might complicate things.

I really appreciate your help with these questions.

There are some universities with courses/subjects totally in English...
Those teaching positions are in demand..

I would recommend contacting universities directly and maybe employment agencies as well (often links for them around this page).

As for teaching in Japanese.. as you would have read on this forum already, they wont employ foreigners to do jobs that Japanese can do as well or better (like teaching in Japanese!).
It would also take many many years to be proficient enough to teach in Japanese

Thank you so much for your informative reply! I just asked the question about teaching in Japanese, because I'm that crazy about Japan.

I will be looking for other information online, and if somebody is interested in the same thing I am, they will find that useful.

Here's what I found. It seems that Temple University has a campus in psychology. There is one professor who taught there for two years. Here's the link to his story: http://www.richardchalfen.com/japan.html

I also found a book, which I'm going to read soon, and although I doubt there will be any practical suggestions, I'll still give it a try:
Teaching in Japan : a cultural perspective / Nobuo K. Shimahara

Also, I found a title of an article, the full text of which I couldn't find anywhere, although it seems to be exactly on the topic I'm interested in. If somebody accidentally finds it, please, post the link of email it to me. I would really appreciate it. It's originally in English:
"Teaching Introductory Psychology in English to Japanese Undergraduate Students" by Takahashi Y and Takahashi T.
Thanks in advance!

If I find anything else, I will post it as well.