I had a personal interview at the Hiyoshi campus of the university in Yokohama. The head of the department kindly informed me that my talk would consist of two parts: a seminar in a large classroom, and then a committee interview in a small meeting room. I had given a seminar on my research and answered questions from the participants. After my presentation, the professors told me that there wouldn't be an interview in another room, which surprised me a bit. The professors invited me to dinner and we had a nice chat. However, I felt coldness in their facial expressions and was not so optimistic. After I left Japan, I didn't get my flight ticket and hotel reimbursement for several months, so I decided to send an email to the person who invited me, kindly reminding them that I still hadn't received any money transfer from Japan. After my email, I finally received the money for the flight ticket and hotel, but the selection committee still hasn't contacted me to inform me about the status of my application. I think that not informing an applicant is unethical, but it seems to be common in Japan. I later found out that another foreigner who worked for a Japanese university was selected for the position. My impression is that Japanese universities are looking for a person who can speak Japanese, but not a foreigner who works in a university in another country, even if he/she has more diverse experience. Another thing I noticed is that they are interested in the number of publications in so-called top journals, no matter what the content is. Ranking has become everything...
