“What kind of position is your new position?” This is a question that I was often asked when I told people that I’m getting a new position. It is not so easy to give a short answer to this question because Japanese academic positions are not well-known to the rest of the world.
I usually start by saying that I got a position called a jokyo, and it is often translated to assistant professor. Or to an Italian researcher, I often say I got a position similar to RTD-A. 1 But, I guess, RTD-A is not that known to researchers outside of Italy, and thus let me expand my answer.
Jokyo is usually the lowest faculty position in Japanese universities. Since it is a faculty position, jokyo is not associated with a certain project, and normally, jokyo is directly hired by the university. Most Japanese universities have this position. However, in Japan, there is no national law that regulates the academic ranks. We also do not have the notion of Habilitation, so there is no requirement for getting this position. The role and the hiring process of jokyo can vary from university to university.
In my case, it is not a tenure-track position, and I am not a principal investigator. In this sense, the term assistant professor might not sound like a good translation for people that are used to the American system. I don’t know if it is because of this, but sometimes jokyo is translated to research associate.
But it is not a pure research position. I do some lectures and am involved in the administration of the department. One of my biggest works is to cosupervise some master’s or PhD students.2 Since I belong to a research group, I will basically supervise the students in the group. That said, technically speaking, I will never be a (co)supervisor “on the papers” because our group leader will be the formal supervisor.
I don’t really care how people call me or consider my position. In your country, this kind of position could be an assistant professor, research associate, postdoc, or junior professor. You can just translate the word jokyo to whatever term/position that you are familiar with.