Internships for Undergraduate Students

Every year, I receive many inquiries (by typically undergraduate students) regarding opportunities of "internships" and/or "short-term research projects" in my laboratory. Currently I am not accepting undergraduate students for internships, or as research students (研究生).

There are several reasons for this:

• I am preoccupied with many things and I currently do not have sufficient time.
• In my research area (e.g. high energy theory and mathematical physics) it is generally difficult to conduct meaningful research if you are an undergraduate student; in fact, it is difficult even for a graduate student with multi-year commitments.
• In most cases it is more useful to study the basics (of e.g. quantum field theory) than starting research too prematurely. (At UTokyo physics, there is no undergraduate thesis.)
• I travel often, especially during summer.
• I am splitting my time between two campuses and coordination is somewhat non-trivial.
• In most cases there is no funding to support your visit.

If you wish to see the campus before the graduate school application, you should simply visit the campus instead. I know some other Tokyo professors accept internship students, and some people have taken advantage of such opportunities to explore the campus and even came to visit my laboratory.

I have been receiving too many inquiry emails; many of the e-mails are not addressed specifically to me, and when I reply most people do not to reply and I am not sure if they read my message. For this reason, I have decided not to reply to most of the inquiries; if you do not hear from me, please assume that you have received the following message:

There can be some exceptions to this rule, however. This may apply e.g. when you are already at an advanced level and are already studying something very closely related to my particular research. For example, you may be working on research topics closely related to some of my papers and have already written papers on the subject, so that you would benefit greatly by discussing with me personally. Or you can find one of the UTokyo postdocs in my group as an effective host, who is seriously committed to hosting you and can spare the time/effort to coordinate with all the parties involved. If you think your case is one of such exceptional cases please do e-mail me (indicating that you have already read the messages here).

Last modified on Tuesday, 21-Jul-2026 04:44:38 JST
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