Hi, I am an overseas-born Chinese (With a South African passport) who has always wanted of studying in Japan since I was a kid. Time passed by and even tho there were times I thought of studying in elsewhere.
I recently found that path again wanting to head towards Japan, I don’t want to leave any regrets but some things just make it difficult.
I have interest in studying an undergraduate course in Japan’s top universities for either computer science or business. However, I live in Cape Town, South Africa where there are no test locations for EJU(also since all EJU locations are in Asia) and no JLPT exam locations unless I travel to Johannesburg, South Africa. This has made it very difficult to even fit the requirement for Japanese universities.
I study A-level subjects in Mathematics, Computer Science, and Business and I have English at AS level. Learning Japanese is the least of my worries since I have always consistently consumed a lot of Japanese content and can comfortably understand a normal conversation between two locals, if I study hard for a few months N1 and N2 are both doable since I am also fluent in Chinese and can write characters too. But the EJU is what’s the most annoying, a quick search led me to a PDF of the universities in Japan that require EJU marks and every top university in Japan requires an EJU.
I also do want to live in Japan therefore the reason for going to a Japanese uni. My other options are
1. Go to one of the top universities in China (since its easier for foreigners to get into Uni there)
2. Go to Australia (Only because it’s close to Japan and it’s an English-speaking country, but I don’t know if I even like the country lol)
3. Go to the UK for uni (just bc I have some friends there but that probs won’t even matter since I might not even have the time and money to travel to meet them on a meaningful level)
4. Go to one of the universities above and then graduate in Japan (but this just seems like such a long route I want to enjoy Japan while I’m still a young adult and not as a middle-aged man) (Also this route could be costly)
5. I could also later on work in Japan after graduating from a non-Japanese university but there are some inconvenient things such as the job hunting culture being extremely rigid and only hiring candidates that are fresh out of uni, also the working culture being hectic and a rigid corporate ladder that you can only climb if you stay working the same company for a prolonged period of time or for your whole life. The other option would be getting into a international company where the work culture would be different, but how realist would that even be?
I am aware of the overwork culture they have and just the general work culture being bad but it would probably be the same as other other countries like China and Korea. That’s why I want to aim for a top university in Japan.
Please feel free to contest any of my points and give me some reality checks as any information would be very helpful.
Thank you all for the long read
2 comments
This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.
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**No EJU No University?**
Hi, I am an overseas-born Chinese (With a South African passport) who has always wanted of studying in Japan since I was a kid. Time passed by and even tho there were times I thought of studying in elsewhere.
I recently found that path again wanting to head towards Japan, I don’t want to leave any regrets but some things just make it difficult.
I have interest in studying an undergraduate course in Japan’s top universities for either computer science or business. However, I live in Cape Town, South Africa where there are no test locations for EJU(also since all EJU locations are in Asia) and no JLPT exam locations unless I travel to Johannesburg, South Africa. This has made it very difficult to even fit the requirement for Japanese universities.
I study A-level subjects in Mathematics, Computer Science, and Business and I have English at AS level. Learning Japanese is the least of my worries since I have always consistently consumed a lot of Japanese content and can comfortably understand a normal conversation between two locals, if I study hard for a few months N1 and N2 are both doable since I am also fluent in Chinese and can write characters too. But the EJU is what’s the most annoying, a quick search led me to a PDF of the universities in Japan that require EJU marks and every top university in Japan requires an EJU.
I also do want to live in Japan therefore the reason for going to a Japanese uni. My other options are
1. Go to one of the top universities in China (since its easier for foreigners to get into Uni there)
2. Go to Australia (Only because it’s close to Japan and it’s an English-speaking country, but I don’t know if I even like the country lol)
3. Go to the UK for uni (just bc I have some friends there but that probs won’t even matter since I might not even have the time and money to travel to meet them on a meaningful level)
4. Go to one of the universities above and then graduate in Japan (but this just seems like such a long route I want to enjoy Japan while I’m still a young adult and not as a middle-aged man) (Also this route could be costly)
5. I could also later on work in Japan after graduating from a non-Japanese university but there are some inconvenient things such as the job hunting culture being extremely rigid and only hiring candidates that are fresh out of uni, also the working culture being hectic and a rigid corporate ladder that you can only climb if you stay working the same company for a prolonged period of time or for your whole life. The other option would be getting into a international company where the work culture would be different, but how realist would that even be?
I am aware of the overwork culture they have and just the general work culture being bad but it would probably be the same as other other countries like China and Korea. That’s why I want to aim for a top university in Japan.
Please feel free to contest any of my points and give me some reality checks as any information would be very helpful.
Thank you all for the long read
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I think your PDF is wrong or misleading. You should look at the admissions process of the schools individually. I just spot checked my school and Tokyo university and neither require EJU or JLPT. Plus, every top school has an English program that you could also apply to. The English programs require an English proficiency test, not Japanese.
On a side note, graduates of top universities in Japan don’t escape the poor Japanese work culture. They just have a higher chance of joining bigger companies, where they get to experience the bad work culture.