GLOBIS Japan: A Guide to Studying Business and Management in Japan

Sriram Sridharan

28/09/2026

6 min read

GLOBIS Japan is not what most people expect a Japanese business school to be. It is not an old national university with a management faculty attached, and it does not run on the research-professor model that shapes most Japanese graduate education. It was built from the other direction — as a practitioner school that grew out of a management-training business — and it describes its MBA as the largest in Japan.

That makes it a genuinely different proposition from Hitotsubashi ICS or Keio, and it suits a different candidate. This guide covers what GLOBIS offers, what it costs, and who it fits. For the wider field, see our comparison of business schools in Japan.

What are the key programme details?

Fees are from GLOBIS’s published full-time and part-time and online fee pages for the current intake. Both programmes can be extended beyond their standard length for a fee of ¥310,000. Check the pages for your own intake year, since fees are revised.

What is GLOBIS?

GLOBIS University Graduate School of Management is based in Tokyo, with campuses in several other Japanese cities and an online offering. It grew out of a management-training business founded in the early 1990s; the MBA came later, which is the reverse of how most business schools develop, and it shows in the teaching.

The school sits in the same group as GLOBIS Capital Partners, a venture-capital firm. That connection shapes its orientation towards entrepreneurship and gives students a proximity to the Japanese startup ecosystem that a conventional university programme does not offer.

What makes it distinctive?

Practitioner faculty

GLOBIS staffs its courses largely with people who are currently working in business — executives, founders, investors — rather than career academics. The trade-off is explicit: less research depth, more current practice. For a student who wants frameworks tested against today’s operating reality, that is the point. For one who wants rigorous academic grounding, it is a limitation worth knowing.

The case method, taught in discussion

Classes are discussion-led around cases, and participation is expected and assessed. It is a demanding format for students who are not confident in the class language, and comfort with it is the best single predictor of whether someone gets value from the programme.

Kokorozashi

GLOBIS builds its programme around kokorozashi, which it translates as personal mission — the idea that a manager should be able to say what they are trying to do with their career beyond advancement. It runs through the curriculum and the admissions process. Applicants who treat it as a slogan tend to do poorly, so engage with it genuinely before you apply; you will be asked.

Format flexibility

GLOBIS offers full-time and part-time study, English and Japanese tracks, and in-person and online delivery. Because the part-time programmes serve working professionals in Japan, much of the student body is employed full-time — a different cohort from a conventional full-time MBA.

Who studies there?

• The full-time English MBA cohort is international, relatively compact, and made up largely of people who moved to Japan for the programme. It is the closest thing to a conventional MBA experience and the group most likely to be job-hunting in Japan at the end.
• The part-time Japanese-track cohorts are mostly Japanese working professionals, often mid-career and frequently employer-sponsored, studying evenings and weekends. For an international student with the language, it is an unusually direct route into a Japanese professional network.
• The online cohort is geographically dispersed and the most varied in background.

Check which cohort you would be joining. A full-time English cohort and an evening Japanese-track cohort are very different rooms.

Who does GLOBIS fit?

• It fits you if you want to work in or around the Japanese startup and venture ecosystem, you value current practice over academic research, you want a discussion-heavy classroom, you want the option of part-time or online study, or you are building something and want to be near investors.
• It fits you less if you want the research depth of a traditional university programme, you are optimising for global brand recognition in a Western market, you want a large alumni network outside Asia, or you prefer a quieter, lecture-based classroom.

How does GLOBIS compare with the alternatives?

The choice is about what you want, not which is better. A student aiming to join a Japanese startup or raise money in Tokyo is better served by GLOBIS. One heading for international corporate management is often better served by ICS. A cost-sensitive, research-oriented student should look at the national universities.

What should you know about applying, cost and format?

Applying. Requirements follow the usual MBA shape — a bachelor’s degree, work experience, English evidence for non-native speakers, essays and an interview. GMAT and GRE requirements vary, so confirm with admissions. What distinguishes a strong GLOBIS application is a clear, genuine answer on kokorozashi and a coherent reason for choosing Japan and this school in particular.

Cost. GLOBIS sits at private-business-school level: well below a comparable American MBA and above Japan’s national universities. Scholarships are available; some are decided at admission and others need a separate application, so ask about both early. Among part-time students, employer sponsorship is common, and it transforms the arithmetic — no forgone salary and often a contribution to fees.

Format and visa. For an international applicant this matters more than the fee difference. Full-time on-campus study gives access to a student visa and, after graduation, the route to a work status. Part-time study generally assumes you already have the right to live and work in Japan. Online study gives neither.

Language. The English-track MBA lets you complete the degree without Japanese, but the language barrier remains at the exit. The startup ecosystem and international firms in Tokyo are more English-friendly than traditional Japanese companies; students who intend to stay and commit to Japanese during the programme have materially more options afterwards.

If you are comparing Japanese business schools, or weighing one against programmes elsewhere, our counsellors can help you work through the fit in a free profile review.