It depends if you get a scholarship or not. Aside from the Young Leader Program Scholarship for which you have to apply at your local Japanese Embassy (I don't know the process), ICS Scholarships range between JPY 500,000 and JPY 2,000,000 (USD 6,000 and USD 22,000).

Cost for One-Year-MBA:
Tuition fees = JPY 600,000 (about 7,000 USD).
Cost of living = JPY 120,000 - JPY 200,000 per month.

Cost of living depends on your choice of accommodation, if you come by yourself or with your family and many other factors.

ICS have 2 MBA options: 1 yr & 2 yr
Which option of ICS MBA is suggested for my profile below as per your suggestion?

5 years of total experience, 3.5 years in General Management.
GMAT scored 660
GPA: 3.5

120-200k per month!!! My rent alone was 350k a month.

Can you elaborate on your 350k per month rent reply?

It is very realistic for an MBA Student in Tokyo to spend the monthly amount I mentioned above. If I refer to my own experience, I was spending about 120-140,000 JPY max per month with an active social life but I have to admit my rent was very low (Decent accommodation located on one of the Hitotsubashi University Campus).

If you don't want/can't use Hitotsubashi accommodation, you can get your own apartment for about 80,000 JPY per month (studio flat) or 100,000 JPY per month (1 bedroom flat).

So 350,000 JPY? I suspect you lived in one of these special overpriced apartments for expats (ususally paid by the company). On the "normal" real estate market, you can live in a castle for this price.

See for yourself at http://tokyo.craigslist.jp/apa/

Hi Seb. I am Eric from Indonesia. I already have an MA in econ from the University of Virginia, and am now working for a British bank in Indonesia. I am 34, too old to start a new career in Japan eh? :-D

I am planning to apply to the ICS in a year or two from now.
So I have 2 questions for you:
1) How difficult is it for an ICS grad who is a foreigner to find a job in Japan? Just based on your judgement or guestimate (e.g. % of your friends in your batch that must to return to their home countries in a year after graduation since they could not find a job in Japan)

2) For a foreigner who is planning to move to Japan, which program is better: the 1 year program or the 2 year program?

Thanks for your answers, Seb :-)

Hi Eric,
At 34 I don't think you're too old to start a new career in Japan. But regarding job hunting in Japan, a lot is going to depend on your fluency in Japanese. So how good is your Japanese ? It will be difficult for you to be hired by any companies if you don't speak Japanese unless you have some amazing/special assets to compensate: in IT or in Finance for example.

It's difficult for me to give a proper answer regarding the % of my friends in my batch: as far as I know, all the people who really wanted to stay in Japan were successful one way or another.

If you intend to stay in Japan, 2-year program would be better.

Another option for you would be to apply to the YLP Scholarship (1 year) as you are a citizen from one of the targeted countries. Scholarship is very generous (250,000 JPY per month and no tuition fees) but you will have to return to Indonesia after one year and will get no help to find a job in Japan.

Hope this helps.

Hi Seb,

Thanks for your answers.
I guess language is my main barrier; that's why I am planning to apply later to allow me improving my Japanese either in Japan (by going to a language school) or in Indonesia.

One more question. I am currently an associate director (AD) in my company (a British bank). I understand that moving from Indonesia to a more developed country like Japan may require a downgrade adjustment to my current level. Meaning that it may be difficult for me to get an AD position in Japan.

Would a degree from the ICS help me to get a kind of protection from such downgrade?

Thanks again, Seb.

Hello. I am highly interested in doing an MBA at either Waseda or Hitotsubashi in Japan (haven't seen any other good MBA English language programs in Japan so far). I speak fluent Japanese and several other languages, but only have 1 year of work experience so far in internships.
Would it be recommendable for me to apply at this point? Or is it necessary for me to gain some more work experience first?

Are there hard-and-fast minimums for work experience posted on the Waseda and Hitotsubashi sites? Most good MBA programs will want to see at least two years of experience. But if your experience is solid and relevant, and your academic record and GMAT are strong, I don't think they would rule you out.

They state they require at least 1 year of work experience.
What would you consider solid and relevant? In my case I did internships in the HR departments of a car parts manufacturer and a cell phone network provider, however as an intern I was not in any kind of leading position.

Dear Nexis,
I don't think they would rule you out. Probably 90% of students at ICS will have at least 3 years experience and the average is generally about 5 years. But an MBA is all about finding the right blend of students.

If you can convince people reviewing your application or interviewing you that you can bring something different, you have a chance to be accepted.

It's too late to apply this year anyway. So you will only be able to apply for the class starting in September 2012. By then you will have at least two years professional experience, won't you?

Hi seb_in_japan

Thank you very much for your information about Hitotsubashi MBA. Since I am in JP at the moment, and going to apply for Hitotsubashi this coming December, could you be kind enough to give me your phone No. or yahoo ID so that I can ask for some more information?
Or I should post my questions here?

Hi seb in Japan,

My name is Reza, from Indonesia.

Currently I am receiving Scholarship from Japanese Govt and enrolling as Research Student (a non-degree program before entering Graduate Course) in Faculty of Commerce Hitotsubashi Univ.
Last week I took entrance exam for Hitotsubashi MBA in Kunitachi (in Japanese) but i am also considering to take ICS since i believe it is more suitable for my future career goal.

However, the problem is I only have 2 years and 2 months working experience in Japanese Bank in Jakarta prior to my study in Japan.
I already discussed this matter with admission office and they asked me to send an email to Dean Ahmadinejan.
They said that I can not apply for the program unless I have approval from the Dean.

Do you have any suggestion regarding to my situation.

What I am thinking now as strategies are to emphasize more on:
1. Any leadership enrollment during my undergraduate and professional experiences
2. Diversify the Class with unique background
3. Other "frame-breaking" things I've done to achieve my goal like i am doing as a "early MBA applicants" to apply ICS MBA.
etc..

Besides, I think I need to work extra hard to achieve 600-650 GMAT scores and good TOEFL scores in this 2 months.

Any advices reagrding to this matter would be very appreciated..

For additional info, I speak Japanese (JLPT Level 1), and now live in Kodaira International Student Village.

Thanks beforehand,

Reza

Hi, I may consider obtaining an MBA in Japan and have a question. Despite the strong brand recognition of ICS and the relatively high starting salary, why is the program ranked below other MBA programs in Japan? Is it because ICS is relatively new?

Do you have any advice for future applicants? I have not taken the GMAT but I possess approximately five years of work experience in financial services and possess another Master's in International Relations from a U.S university. I grew up in the U.S but speak Japanese fluently. I plan on taking the JLPT 1 this year to provide concrete evidence that my Japanese is up to par. If you have any suggestions, please let me know. Also, please keep your comments professional. Thanks!!

Hi,

Sorry about the belated reply. In the rankings from very reputable institutions (FT, The Economist), no Japanese MBAs are ranked for now. There are various reasons for it: in the case of ICS, I guess it's mainly due to the size of the MBA (only 50 full-time graduates per promotion) and the fact it's still quite new.

In Japanese rankings, I think Keio MBA is generally ranked higher and possibly Kobe University MBA but they are not really international style MBAs: their selection processes are different from world-class MBAs, they are mostly taught in Japanese and don't necessarily request professional experience. I am sure they have very good candidates (mostly Japanese) but they offer something different.

For the MBA taught in English I heard about International University of Japan MBA in Niigata, Tsukuba University MBA or Globis MBA. Feel free to look at what they offer, their cost and reputation. I would personally choose ICS again if I was to apply today.

If a student's Japanese language skills are strong enough, is there a way for the person to take a course or two in Japanese? I plan on passing JLPT1 in December and I am looking for a valuable in-country experience in Japan. I would take it earlier but it is only offered once a year in Dec here in the U.S.

The website stated the average GMAT was 615 for the most recent incoming class. However, admissions did state a score above 600 is strongly preferred. As you stated, the higher the better.

I did this school, for me the best ROI for the education you will get. It's a public school (very cheap) with good partnerships (ex: Yale) and qualified teachers (Harvard MBAs, Corporate finance experience, venture capitalists, McKinsey and BCG consultants...)