Recently, one of my friends asked my opinion about his possible entry into the race to be chairperson at a certain private medical college in Tokyo. The chairperson of a certain clinical department was going to retire, and the college announced it was seeking a person to fill the position. My friend found the announcement and considered participation in the race. He thought I knew a lot about how professors are selected at Japanese universities, because I myself am a professor at a national university, and he knows I went through hardships to be in the position.
I researched the situation: I screened out potential competitors for the race and found that an associate professor of the department was applying to enter the race. Then I analyzed the academic performance of the two potential competitors referring to PubMed, and also compared research funds they had won. My friend was incomparably superior to the other candidate in terms of EVERYTHING, including academic performance, the ability to collect research funds, surgical skills, and visibility in the related field.
However, I advised him NOT to run the race, because the other candidate was a graduate of that private college and my friend was not. UNFORTUNATELY, my friend was a graduate of the widely acknowledged BEST university in Japan.
My friend appears to have asked some people other than me for their opinions about the position. He eventually decided not to enter the race.
When he consulted me, he left very impressive words: “I fear I might be foot-cut, because I’m a graduate of T. University.” “Foot-cut” is a special Japanese term used regarding situations such as entrance examinations or joining companies. When there are many more applicants than can be accepted, the employer (or university) must sift out some of the applicants in the first round. “Foot-cut” means this first-step sifting. “Foot-cut” originally was a martial technique of the Naginata, a sword with a long handle. The technique of cutting the lower legs of the opponent is to “foot-cut.” The exclusion of applicants is similar to this martial technique in that the lower part of an entity is removed. So exclusion in the first step of examination is named “foot-cut.”
By definition, applicants with inferior qualities should be foot-cut. However, my friend feared he might be foot-cut because of his EVIDENT SUPERIORITY in his academic career. The combination of “foot-cut” and the prestige of his university was very funny. It was even hilarious. So I felt like laughing in my mind, though also feeling somewhat sorry for the friend. Eventually, the other applicant―a graduate of the college in question―was selected, as expected.
I assume the readers of this piece to be non-Japanese. I guess different readers would respond to the story about my friend’s application differently. Some might find it unusual and unfair; others might find it quite usual and not strange at all.
I personally feel the selection system is wrong and needs to be revised. However, nothing happens without reason. The selection happened because it seems best for the private college.
The private medical college has a few hospitals. The working conditions at the hospitals are not so good, with low salaries and limited clinical performance. It is difficult for the hospitals to collect surgeons to work there. The workers at the hospitals naturally consist of the graduates of the college, since hardly any graduates of other universities wish to join. As a result, the hospitals end up forming a unity similar to a local community, where only people born there reside.
The seniority system is likely to prevail in in such societies, because its members are mostly alumni of the college. Accordingly, the society becomes exclusive and any performance-based capability system is blurred.
The exclusion of aliens functions as a sort of tariff. If the college head-hunts a capable person and allows him to lead the department, many subordinates may leave the department: after all, the working conditions are mediocre in the first place. Most of the workers belong to the department because they believe they will probably be in top positions when they become senior. Acceptance of “foreigners” destroys such hopes.
