For applicants to Waseda GSE considering me as a supervisor

[Disclaimer: the opinions expressed herein are my own and do not represent the views of my present and past affiliations in any way.]

Research ranking of Waseda GSE

According to one of the most reliable rankings of economics departments worldwide provided by Tilburg University, Waseda University is ranked as follows:

in terms of publications in very top 36 journals during 2007-2011 (default):
- #384 in the world, #40 in Asia, and #13 in Japan: below U Tokyo (#11 in Asia), Hitotsubashi U (#13), Kyoto U (#13), Osaka U (#17), Kobe U (#24), Yokohama National U (#26), Ritsumeikan U (#29), Tokyo Metropolitan U (#32), Kansai U (#34), Keio U (#34), Nihon U (#38), and U Tsukuba (#38); and tied with Nagoya U and Tohoku U
- Japan's top econ school, U Tokyo, is ranked #140 in the world
- There are six universities in mainland China which are above Waseda: Tsinghua U (#6 in Asia), Peking U (#7), Xiamen U (#20), Shanghai U of Finance and Economics (#30), Shanghai Jiao Tong U (#34), and Zhejiang U (#34); and tied with Central U of Finance and Economics and Fudan U
in terms of publications in top 68 journals during 2007-2011:
- #376 in the world, #37 in Asia, and #8 in Japan: below U Tokyo (#9 in Asia), Osaka U (#16), Kyoto U (#17), Hitotsubashi U (#19), Kobe U (#24), Yokohama National U (#29), and Keio U (#33)
- Japan's top econ school, U Tokyo, is ranked #135 in the world
- There are seven universities in mainland China which are above Waseda: Peking U (#3 in Asia), Tsinghua U (#7), Xiamen U (#23), Shanghai U of Finance and Economics (#26), Beijing Normal U (#31), Fudan U (#34), and Zhejiang U (#34); and tied with Shandong U

My research area

I'm doing research on international trade theory, especially on theory of trade and growth.
According to JEL Classification Codes Guide, my papers mostly fall into:
- F13: Trade Policy; International Trade Organizations
- F43: Economic Growth of Open Economies
Unfortunately, I can NOT give professional advice on:
- empirical analysis of international trade: applying econometric/statistical methods to real-world trade data
- international finance/macroeconomics: exchange rates, current account deficit/surplus, international borrowing/lending, etc.
- trading business
Since I will NOT accept students pursuing these topics, please find other researchers somewhere.

Requirements

By the time of your entrance exam, I urge you to have advanced knowledge of undergraduate economics major, including:

international trade (e.g., Markusen et al., International Trade)
microeconomics (e.g., Varian, Intermediate Microeconomics)
macroeconomics (e.g., Mankiw, Macroeconomics)
econometrics (e.g., Wooldridge, Introductory Econometrics)
mathematics (e.g., Chiang, Fundamental Methods of Mathematical Economics)

Note that this is the minimum requirements. I would appreciate if you would complete more advanced materials on microeconomics (e.g., Varian "Analysis"), international trade (e.g., Chapter 2 of Wong), and economic growth (e.g., Chapter 2 of Barro and Sala-i-Martin).

Doctoral program

It is much harder for econ Ph.D.s to get an academic job than for M.A.s to find a non-academic job. I feel this is true everywhere in the world.
In my view, in the Japanese econ job market, you should usually have at least two publications in international refereed journals, or one pub in top general or field journals, to compete for even the first job.
I will allow you to write a Ph.D. dissertation only if I'm convinced that your M.A. thesis is publishable for international refereed journals.
Think twice before pursuing a Ph.D.: unless you have willingness AND ability to do that, you should seek a non-academic job as soon as possible, preferably before applying for a Doctoral program.