Japan is perhaps a unique case when considering the situation of adjunct university faculty. The robust economy and relatively high educational standards have ensured a strong academic presence; however, long-held notions of ethnic and cultural homogeneity historically have limited long-term employment prospects for non-Japanese faculty to short-term, contract-based work. Yet, with one of the world’s most rapidly aging societies, Japan must confront a gamut of issues including university education. The shrinking pool of domestic students and faculty has forced universities to diversify, aiming to broaden their academic specializations, as well as expanding outreach and recruitment outside of Japan. As a result, doors appear to be slowly but increasingly opening to foreign faculty in Japan—a situation perhaps at odds with that of contingent faculty in the United States. Although the range of adjunct positions and arrangements is broad and exceptions at individual institutions abound, this article focuses on the employment of non-Japanese faculty in national (kokuritsu) universities, highlighting some of the issues adjunct and foreign faculty in Japan are facing.

The Japanese government began allowing foreign faculty to teach in national and public universities in 1982; by 2004, 1,474 foreign faculty were dispersed throughout 92 national universities. Suh (2003, 275) estimated that 57.3% worked under limited-term contracts. Because visa regulations require having a full-time employer, most faculty admitted under the “professor” category are tied to a single university full-time in a fixed contract, usually lasting two to five years. New academics in Japan often enter under “lecturer” and “assistant professor” positions, generally with little possibility for advancement. These positions are considered contingent because of their limited duration and responsibilities, particularly because they have no input in departmental and administrative decisions (Kawaguchi, Kondo, and Saito Reference Kawaguchi, Kondo and Saito2016, 1437).

According to the Japanese Ministry of Education, foreign faculty comprised 3.4% of total university faculty across national and public universities in 2007; only 46% of national and public universities had a system in place for foreign-faculty recruitment (MEXT 2008). Most foreign faculty members were concentrated in lecturer and assistant professor positions, with relatively few attaining the rank of tenured full professor. By 2016, the Ministry of Education reported a total of 2,753 foreign faculty in national universities, most occupying assistant and associate professor positions (cited in Cabinet Office of Japan 2017). Table 1 lists the number of foreign faculty, their positions, and relative percentages in national universities from 1990 through 2016.

Table 1

Foreign Faculty in Japanese National Universities, by Number and Percentage of Total Faculty, 1990–2016

Source: Compiled from Cabinet Office of Japan (2017).

The data show a clear increase in the number of foreign faculty, a progression toward higher-position attainment, and a reduction in the number of foreign (i.e., contingent) lecturers. Despite this positive trend, foreign faculty remain a minority in Japanese institutions, and retention can vary considerably. Several issues can affect the status of and long-term prospects for foreign adjunct faculty, including their qualifications and publications, grants received, English-speaking ability, and Japanese-reading and -speaking proficiency. Although the most common arrangement appears to be a fixed-term contract for a predetermined number of years, Japanese-language ability in particular can significantly affect marketability. Because Japanese universities also use international publications, primarily in English, as a measure of their rankings, foreign faculty who publish in English have an advantage in this regard.

Due to changes in Japanese labor law in 2013 (Carlet Reference Carlet2017), adjunct faculty can work on a fixed contract for a maximum of five to ten years, after which they must be given a permanent (i.e., tenured) job or are forced to leave their position. It appears that most adjunct faculty, including non-Japanese faculty, are not granted permanent employment after this period (Okunuki Reference Okunuki2016). Foreign faculty face additional hurdles because they often are perceived as working on the periphery of Japanese academia, largely unincorporated in university administration and decision making (Whitsed and Wright Reference Whitsed and Wright2011). Concerns remain about the degree to which foreign faculty are utilized in the Japanese-university context; some perceive them as largely cosmetic, used as an “internationalization” selling point to encourage enrollments or to pad university rankings with English-language publications.

As the Japanese population ages, international-student enrollments increase, and English-language programs expand, the long-term prospects for non-Japanese adjunct faculty appear to be positive. Despite the hurdles that foreign faculty face and their relatively small numbers, there appears to be a growing emphasis on internationalization in Japanese academia, with foreign faculty becoming increasingly important. This favorable outlook, with the door slowly opening to long-term employment for heretofore adjunct foreign faculty, creates an interesting contrast to the more negative trends in American academia. The Japanese case perhaps has value in demonstrating the countervailing pressures promoting the retention of permanent faculty, despite contrary trends elsewhere.