Hi all! I'm a biomedical master student from Europe, and have to do a 6 month internship at a research facility. I was thinking about doing one in Japan, Tohoku University specifically because that's a partner university of my own university. However since I'm not going there as a 'regular' student (following courses etc), I worry a bit about my social life in Japan. I can't really speak Japanese, although I can read hiragana and katakana.
I want to do my internship at the Tohoku medical faculty, where they have international students every now and then. (So I assume the research will be in English too, but of course I will have to Email them about this.)However, they probably won't be doing the same research, so chances are I'm surrounded with Japanese speaking people all day. This feels like a bit of an issue since our cultures and norms are very different. When there are some other international students (or honestly just one), I feel like this is not a big deal. But I don't want to be the only outsider, since I am afraid they might shut me out.
I feel like it will get lonely really soon this way, so here's a question for foreign students that did an internship:
Was your social life in Japan very different from what you're used to? How do you make friends here?
Are there dorms that you share with fellow internationals for example?
I want to explore the country, but not on my own for six months. Please share your experience🥲.
by sannefleur266