gloriakoh

UENO PARK - PART I - ZOO

18:28:00

My exchange program at Hitotsubashi University, Japan

02:06:00

Good afternoon from Japan!

I figured it will be great to be sharing more information to future students looking to enroll to a Japan University, or specifically, Hitotsubashi University!

For all fellow Singaporeans, Japan will require a visa if we are here to stay for >90 days. It only costs $34 for application so I guess it really is negligible. As exchange students over in Japan, we are required to apply for a student visa -- whether or not our stay in Japan is >90 days.I realized this because I thought I will not need one since I will be returning Singapore mid May, but the system requires so because I still need to be a resident here to be a student. Troublesome.

We took a domestic flight from Osaka to Tokyo. Generally in Japan domestic flight costs around the same or slightly even cheaper compared to the bullet train. There are many options to travel around Japan - you can save a ton if you take a bus, but that will take you a pretty long time to reach your destination.

Hitotsubashi university is on the outskirts of West Tokyo, which means it was far from Kansai Airport. We spend about an additional SGD$20 (by train) and 3hours getting to our apartment per person. It was about 2.4km walk to our school.

But first let me show all of you Hitotsubashi University!

The first week of orientation have ended. And here are some information I gathered that I thought might be useful for everyone:

Disclaimer: I did not opt for the school hostel because my boyfriend and I wanted the real Japan experience.

1. Getting a phone in Japan

There aren't many options when it comes to getting a SIM card in Japan. We were recommended to head to BIC Camera as long term tourists/exchange students. Here are just some of the plans:

I was lucky enough to have registered with them during the promotion period, which doubles my data plan. Personally I got the plan with 3gb which cost 900yen. Which means I have 6gb worth of data at about SGD$12!

However, it's not all good as it sounds. There were hidden charges which were only laid out to us upon purchasing. We had to pay an additioanl 5,367yen (tax incl.) for the SIM Card and registration costs. You could opt out for the registration if you can read/write Japanese since it is merely just registering the card. What a rip off....

2. The language barrier in Japan is real

Japanese are quite monolingual and it may get a little difficult communicating in Japan. There are some surprisingly able to speak fluent mandarin, but we rarely find any that could speak fluent English thus making it really difficult for us to commute around. It will be good to pick up basic Japanese if you are coming here for a long term... or maybe pick up when you are here.

3. Transportation and costs

At first glance it is pretty costly to live in Japan. It costs me about 170yen (SGD$2+) to go to school everyday. That would amount to a good $5-$6 daily going to school. Getting a travel pass (pasmo or suica) will be useful and more convenient, but it doesn't really give much discounts. However are more affordable options like cycling. That is why cycling is common in Japan, which brings me to my next point.

4. Cycling

Cycling has evolved to be so common in Japan that the government made stringent rules and regulation to commute by this method. All bikes must be registered under an owner's name and address and I guess a very obvious reason is to prevent theft.. Cycling without headlights at night, tandem cycling, speeding and drunk cycling will also get you in trouble lol.... It is as close as it can get to owning a car.

5. Rubbish disposal

Japan is well known for their efforts to go eco-friendly, and we have to start to learn how to separate our trash. Here's what we got when we first arrived in our resident city office:

Yeap... I know.

But so far so good for us!

Here's a picture of us with some cherry blossoms! It is really great to be here in the spring season. Stay tuned, I will be updating more on my trip and some great learning experience to share with everyone! Do leave a comment or anything you wanna know about Japan and I will be glad to share.