"In Japan, most students go directly into a field related to their undergraduate course of study or enter a graduate program. However, when a Japanese woman comes to the U.S. to study, she is able to explore a wider range of career tracks based on her education," says Yukiko Shimmi, who left her native Japan to research international higher education. Shimmi's research shows that many Japanese women who study in the U.S. use their degrees to pursue career paths in the humanities and social sciences they would not have taken in Japan.