Hello! I’ve been going through the application process for studying abroad in Japan in Spring 2023, but I’ve been conditionally accepted to two universities and am having trouble deciding….
The two are Toyo Univerisity in Tokyo, which I would be attending through ISEP, and Chukyo University in Nagoya, which I would be attending through a partnership with my home university. Both schools seem good to me but I was curious if anyone had anything to say about either of them.
The main point that’s giving me trouble with deciding is rent and location. At Toyo, because of rules with ISEP etc., I’d be paying about 1.1k USD a month. At Chukyo, I’d be paying around 450 USD a month. Because of that I’m leaning towards Chukyo right now, but a lot of people seem to say Nagoya is boring. I’m absolutely not trying to dunk on Nagoya as I’ve never even been, that’s just what I’ve seen online sometimes. I love big cities, and I’ve been to Tokyo before and really enjoyed it, so I think it’d be fun to live there …. but a $3000 difference total is pretty rough.
Is Nagoya actually boring, or do you think it’s an enjoyable place to live/study abroad in? Is there a good amount of nightlife and things for college students to do on a free days?
1 comment
For a single study abroad semester Nagoya will be fine. Possibly even great.
The problem with Nagoya is not that there’s *nothing* to do/see. It’s that there are *limited* things to do/see. I like to say that Nagoya has one of each cool thing. One museum, one big temple, and so on. Which makes Nagoya kind of boring if you live there long term, because it doesn’t take very long to visit all of the various “one things”. But if you’re only going to be there for a semester, or even a year, you won’t be exhausting the options.
Nagoya also has the benefit of being very centrally located. You can take the shinkansen to Kyoto/Osaka in under an hour. You can easily head up to Tokyo. There’s a straight-shot train line to Gifu if you want to see the mountains. And because you’d be saving money, you’ll actually be able to *afford* to go visit all those places.