In 2017, I spent several months in Japan as part of my student exchange at the University of Rikkyo. In the past, I had studied for a semester in England. However, this particular experience in the land of the rising sun was truly a unique one from beginning to end. That’s why I decided to dedicate some posts about my exchange and life in the bustling city known as Tokyo.
The cost of my semester in Tokyo
I spent 7000€ for my exchange semester 💸. Per month, I used on average 600€ (accommodation excluded). For other international students, the spending were more or less higher. However I fall into the average.
Cooking cost the same as buying a ready-to-eat meal at the konbini or eating in a “family restaurant”. That’s why I rarely cooked 😏. As for public transports thanks to my student status I had a discount on my Pasmo ( a rechargeable card primarily used for public transport in Tokyo).
It was a pass for the journey from the university to the dorm. It means that each time I had to go somewhere else I had to pay an extra. Well let’s just say that without noticing you’ll spend a lof of money 😩💸
Regarding my trips outside Tokyo, I benefited from a discount of 25% for all my rides by train. Since the JR Pass* was only for foreigners with a tourist visa, that was the alternative given to the international students. So if you are studying in Japan, don’t hesitate to ask about it at your university’s international office 😉.
The courses
While studying abroad, each student must get 15 credits to validate his semester. In my case, I had other conditions which were to pick a class specialized in finance and another in management. At the end, I had 7 courses including Japanese classes. Nothing better than a total immersion to learn and get better in a foreign language 😉.
Regarding the quality of the classes, I don’t think that it’s a subject worth discussing on. Like anywhere, I had different kind of professor 😌.
However there are some stuff that surprised me during classes. The first one was the passiveness of some Japanese students. I allow myself to point it because in France we are not better 🙄. Abroad Japanese are renowned to be very studious (cliché 😅). So I was trying to understand, people explained me that in Japan high school is really intense. That’s why university is for some of them a “break”.
The other thing I wasn’t expecting at all was the form satisfaction (typically Japanese 🇯🇵) that I would get at the end of each class. In France, the student opinions on the quality of the class don’t really matter. So I found this approach really valuing.
Finally regarding the classes my only advice would be to pay attention to the ponctuality. If you arrive by the time the tone is ringing, you will be considered as absent and it will be non negotiable 😅.
The buddy system
When I first met my academic advisor, he suggested to put me in touch with a local student who would be a kind of buddy. Despite already having two buddies, I said yes. After all, the more the merrier. That’s how I ended up meeting Natsuko. The idea was that she would help me improving my Japanese and vice versa for me with French. We would meet once a week to work. At the beginning, we were serious but we became friends 😌 and the language lessons were quickly replaced with other talks 😂
