197 reviews
3.98 / 5 based on 197 reviews
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Tim K
Student life
Describe host city:
Students equally interact with the local and student community
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Activities: Takes place mostly within the university/student environment
Travel, Nightlife: Takes place mostly outside the university/student environment
Personal social experience
Personal comments
The bars in Osaka. Bikkuri ramen right near the university. Hanging out in the foreign student lounge. Im sure you'll find places on your own.
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Tim K
Housing
Type of housing: With a family
Arranged by: Host university
If returning, I would choose: With a family
Why?
It depends on the host family but mine was pretty cool. I still had a ton of freedom, the food was great, I made new friends. The only problem was I was a bit isolated from the other students since there was not much to do at my host family's house except talk to them and maybe study or watch TV.
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Personal comments
The 2 main choices are host family or the dorms (a few people had apartments on their own). If you want to hang out with the other foreigners and party a lot and have a fun time the dorm is probably better cause there's always something going on and people to do stuff with. If you want a more intimate Japanese experience and don't want to go back to dorm life then the host family is better. The vast majority of people I know were happy with their host families.
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Tim K
Expenses
Main source of funding:
Family
Other sources of funding:
Personal savings<br>
Other
Work opportunities:
I didn't want/need to work
Personal spending habits
Japan is really expensive but there are ways to avoid the useless stuff. Once you get used to it it's not that bad. I never got used to 500 yen for a beer ($5) though.
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Overall, Food, Travel, Nightlife:
was more expensive than at home.
Housing:
was the same price as at home.
Telephone:
was less expensive than at home.
Accessibility of student needs
Second-hand household items
Personal comments
The 100 yen shops are good. Bikkuri ramen is good. Buy a train pass. You can get a bicycle for under $100. Don't waste your money on anime and videogames are garbage like that (if you're an anime freak). Only buy the essentials and you'll be fine.
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Tim K
Academic
Course recommendations
The language courses are pretty dry but not that hard, as long as you study on your own. The business courses are a bitch so don't take them unless you need them for your major. The other humanities electives were pretty easy, just make sure you take the good ones. Hollstein, Paul Scott are two really cool teachers.
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My academic experiences
Interaction with teachers
Interaction with international students
Interaction with local students
Personal comments
Not really. The classes were pretty easy so it was nice to have a kind of vacation semester when I was at Kansai Gaidai.
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My opinion of the university assessment
Exams throughout the course
Essays and/or projects at the end of course
Essays and/or projects throughout the course
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Tim K
Overall
I wish I had known...
Learning the language is hard work, you can't learn it through osmosis. And also enjoy every minute of being there since you wont' be there forever. Keep in touch with the people you meet.
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In my opinion:
Everybody loved it, you will too!
Important factors in my choice
(1) Unimportant – (4) Very important
Personal recommendation
I'd go here again and probably wouldn't change much about my experience. It was a total blast!
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During my experience abroad, I ...
(1) Never – (4) A lot
Became familiar with another culture
Met people from other countries
Experienced a change in life
Advanced my studies & career
Final comments
Overall a great university. Tons of fun. Easy classes. Japan is a really cool country. Meet new and interesting people. Try and visit Tokyo if you can. It's a bit expensive though, I never got to do that. Probably my only regret about the whole trip.
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Tim K
Languages
Language of instruction: Japanese
Was learning Japanese a key decision factor?
Yes, I wanted to improve my Japanese
How much did you improve your Japanese?
My level before: No problems in any areas (including slang)
My level after: No problems in any areas (including slang)
Language difficulties
Administrative / Institutional
Personal comments
Japanese is a tough language, even in Japan. You need to be self-motivated and put a lot of effort into it. I didn't have a lot of motivation and I'm really lazy so I didn't really improve as much as I would have liked to. Kind of a shame but oh well.
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