Keiō University Semester abroad

1 comment

1. Hello there fellow Japanese learner 🙂

   I have been abroad in Tokyo before at Waseda University.

   1) I personally lived in a dormitory in Edogawa-ku and that was fine for me. I wasn’t very social with the people at the dormitory, except with another dude from my home university who also lived there.

   I did have other friends who chose to live in a share house and that also seemed to be very nice for them, if you’re willing to live with other people and share stuff. According to them they sometimes had to clean a bit more, since some of the other people living there weren’t that thorough.

   I think they found their share house using https://www.sakura-house.com/

   2) Not sure, since I was around N3 when I was there and it was at Waseda University. I have heard that Keio is a pretty tough University, but I have no personal experience.

   3) I did manage to make a few Japanese friends, but unfortunately we were at least 8ish students from the same University and we all fell into the “international bubble”. I think I had the best chance of breaking it, since my Japanese level was a bit higher than some of my friends, but still hung out way too much with my friends from my own University talking in our native language 24/7.

   The Japanese friends I made was through an international kinda club at Waseda University, but I also just met Japanese people through my friends from my home University.

   4) I was so lucky that I got the JASSO Scholarship, which was around 80,000円 a month. That helped a lot. My rent was pretty much 80,000円 a month and I literally never cooked a meal while staying, and I think I averaged 160,000-180,000円 a month including rent, public transportation, eating out, drinking way too much, wasting money at arcades, karaokes etc.

   I think if you’re a little more economical than I was you can probably get by with 1000€ a month, but I would recommend having a bit more just in case. This of course also depends on your rent.

   5) My overall experience was really great. My time in Japan then was probably my happiest time ever. I do have regrets though. I really regret spending too much time with other western people and not practicing my Japanese as much as I could have. Also spent too much time in my dorm room than I would have wanted to.

   I think I really took my time in Japan as an exchange student for granted. Half a year sounds like a long time, but trust me, it’s over faster than you think. Next time I’m going I know what I want to do more specifically than when I went last time. I was also way younger and less mature than I am now.

   Maybe get a part-time job where you can practice your Japanese, if you have the time for it. Just be aware of the rules regarding working in Japan on a Student Visa. There’s a bunch of rules, which I don’t know very well, since I didn’t have a part-time job.

   Also if you like drinking, go to some izakaya and make some friends! Japanese people are usually very friendly and when you can speak Japanese it’s just that much more fun.

   Me and my friends were invited to Karaoke by a bunch of salarymen and women at an izakaya and we had a great time. Never met them before, but since we all spoke fair bit of Japanese it wasn’t that hard to socialize with them.

   Also, just a heads up, don’t follow the people who try to get you into shady bars and stuff like that. Just politely refuse and they will usually understand.

   When you have time, go explore Tokyo! It’s a massive city and I regret not spending more time just walking around and experiencing the city.

   If you have any questions about good restaurants, bars or anything in general, just let me know and I will try my best to help 🙂