Hello r/japanlife! I’m an upcoming 12th grade student from SEA and I’ve been considering studying in Japan for a while now since I have close relatives there who’ve also encouraged me to study abroad (in Tokyo). So far, from what I’ve seen the most popular universities are Tokyo-U, Waseda, and Keio. I tried researching their sites yet I’m still a bit confused as to how undergraduate studies (4 year degree) application works since International Programs are mostly for graduate students. I was hoping some of these questions could be answered:
\- How does university applications generally work for international students vying to study in Japan?
\- Is learning Japanese a 100% requirement or something I can work on once I arrive (will I survive just knowing fluent English)?
\- Are Japanese universities (or people in general) welcoming to foreigners? There’s the pre-conceived notion that Japanese people are kind and hospitable but I was hoping to hear from the locals themselves.
\*For context, I’m thinking of taking STEM degrees ranging from Psychology, Physics, Environmental Science, the like.
That’s all! Thank you in advance to everyone who took the time to read this and would like to answer. 😀
2 comments
What do you mean by SEA? There are multiple places in the world that might be abbreviated in that fashion.
Most programs in most universities in Japan are taught mostly in Japanese, and if you don’t speak the language you simply couldn’t get in and it wouldn’t make any sense. But there are some programs that are taught in English.
The bad news is that I imagine relatively few of those are STEM.
Your questions is a little too general to give you a solid answer, but you should know the 3 schools you mentioned are 3 of the absolute best schools in Japan.
As far as their undergrad programs, if they have one, they will have a website in English. The best thing to do is find that website, and look through the process. Every school is different.
As far as being able to survive, I mean, whether you can speak Japanese or not, you won’t die….but your life will be faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar more fulfilling and enjoyable if you do.