Just want to correct chana tarkari when he states "This is one of the main reason why it is very hard to work and study in japan as most others can do that easily in the USA/Canada or Europe or Australia. " Well, have you done PhD at all the universities in north America, Europe, Japan and Australia? Then how can you say that the requirement of 3 publications (that too with two conference proceedings) makes the study at Japan harder than that in north America where a student has to take a number of high level courses and attain A grade in addition to the novel research work (the course requirement is a reason why in Canada and states students take 4-5 years to complete PhD). FYI, in north America, PhD students do work extended hours, have to teach classes (as a part of funding) and do publish in peer reviewed papers. Be it Japan, North America, Australia or Nepal, the quality of PhD work depends upon the researcher not how many hours he/she spent in lab.