I’m studying abroad at Rikkyo University in Tokyo starting this September, and I’m wondering whether I should opt to get the meal plan. It’s roughly $125/month for 2 meals/day Mon-Sat. Its cheap, but I have no information on what food they provide and what the portion sizes will be. I’m a very active person, so I tend to eat a lot throughout the day and I’m concerned that the meals might be small/low calorie. Does anyone know what Rikkyo’s meal plan is like? Are portions small? What kind of food do they serve? Do meals fill you up or would I be better off doing my own shopping/cooking?
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I attended two colleges in Japan and their meals were amazing. Based on rice, of course, and sometimes noodles but of high quality. Great curry, fried pork, ramen sets, stews, etc. All Japanese school lunch programs are pretty highly rated. I would strongly suggest that you opt for the meal plan.
Can’t vouch for dorms, but cafeteria is decent, and there’s an on-site restaurant that serves a decent lunch plate (albeit more expensive at 13-15 dollars), so Rikkyo at least has a tendency towards better meals.
As for pricing; 2 meals a day for 6 days a week, gets you about 50 meals for 125$. In other words, about 2.25$ per meal (real ball park figures, so take with salt) so long as you don’t skip. This is cheaper than a lot of meals you can cook for yourself, and is much cheaper than eating out, which usually *starts* at above 500 yen. So finance wise, I would go for it.
As for portion sizes; are you American? Because if the answer is yes, basically everything here will be a portion size smaller than what you’re used to. Example; [Macdonalds cup size](https://livedoor.blogimg.jp/jin115/imgs/b/b/bbc98ca4.jpg). Those are the Japanese cups with the white line representing American standards. The M size is your S, and the L is *smaller* than your M.
Now, if it’s possible, I would recommend trying to adjust to the Japanese portions if you want to be here long term (yes, even for a semester), but if that is *absolutely* impossible, make sure to give yourself some financial leeway to purchase a bit of extra food.
Are you talking about the dorm meal plan? I stayed at the Asakadai dorm back in 2010 or so, but it didn’t look great. I ended up not joining and just ate outside all the time. Also didn’t like the Ikebukuro cafeteria too much, but at the time it was only a few hundred yen per dish so maybe they have improved since.