So in my one and a half years in Japan and studying at two different universities, it seems that for the most part Gaijin students tend to fit into three major groups – and three very differing approaches to Japan. I’m not saying one is better than the other (or, more importantly, I’m not saying one is worse than another), but it is interesting to see how people slide into various “gaijin roles” after they’ve spent some time here. I hope that by reading this (these stereotypes, essentially) you can look inside yourself and notice if you are falling into one of these categories. Maybe you’d rather be something else! Now you have the power to notice what you are becoming.

Type 1: the “Gaijin?”

The Hollywood version

Motto: When in Rome do as the Romans do

And thus when in Japan, do as the Japanese do.

This person is probably the one you find with perfect keigo mastery. The one who goes “Yoroshiku onegai itashimasu” or the person who can seiza properly for 20 minutes without collapsing.

Often can be seen in Japanese university student clubs, especially the very “Japanese” ones such as karate or judo. Probably has hopes for living / working in Japan in the future. His goal is to immerse himself in Japan and try his best to integrate – be a member of Japanese society – as much as possible.

Pros

If you’re looking to experience Japan then this is obviously good. Furthermore, if you really want to practice your Japanese (and particularly your keigo) then this would be a great way of going about doing your business.

If you’re also looking to make Japanese friends then this is perhaps one possible way to do it. More on this in the third section but there are actually many foreigners who leave Japan after a year or more without any Japanese friends – and this approach might avoid it.

Cons

Probably the hardest out of the three to do. You have to be fluent in Japanese to at least a near-native level and be able to “空気を読む” (lit. reading the air or social situation) which may be hard too. And it takes time – a lot of it.

Furthermore, once people know that you’re a foreigner, you’ll have an giant “gaijin” tag superglued onto your head. If you look vaguely Japanese, then maybe it’s possible. But even then, unless your accent with all the intonations are correct – you are gaijin. If a Japanese person mucks up their keigo, he or she is “poorly-educated”. If a gaijin mucks it up, it’s cute – but very “gaijin”.

Every small non-Japanese thing you do will reinforce your status as a gaijin – so being fully “integrated” is extremely difficult to say the least, so expect to be pretty stressed out at times if you decide to take this path.

Type 2: the “Gaijin gaijin”

Motto: I’m not Roman so why should I care?

If the above person tries to remove the gaijin tag stuck to his head, this guy takes advantage of it. He knows he’s a gaijin, they know he’s a gaijin, and he makes sure that they know that he’s a gaijin.

Basically, he is everything that the Japanese expect from a “gaijin” – brash, extroverted, frank, loud, “kuuki yomenai”, whatever.

Everyone knows him and he almost is a campus mascot. Inwardly he probably revels in the attention too.

Pros

Through assuming the gaijin stereotype, you get awarded “gaijin space”. Basically, you won’t be accepted as part of Japanese society but you will be accepted as a “gaijin”. This means that you can often do what you want (with some limits) – keigo? Who cares? Hierarchy? What’s that? The Japanese assume that you don’t care or don’t know, so don’t worry about it!

This is also the other way of making Japanese friends – after all you’ll be known throughout campus and so you’ll have a tremendously wide social circle of people who know you (and who you don’t know). Get to know them and the problem is solved.

If you’re the feminist/gay/environmentalist/etc activist type too this approach may be good. Because the gaijin status does accord you the right to be vocal about things – whether the Japanese listen is a different question though.

Cons

How some people may see you

Not everyone is going to take well to you – because you will be indicating that you’re really different from them. Some people will find an gaijin extrovert overpowering and some people can’t forgive the lack of keigo. But you will be attracting the more internationally minded Japanese so there is a give and take.

This requires some finesse and charisma to it too. You can’t just be the critical brusque foreigner that says uncalled-for stuff all the time. That’ll earn you discrimination (as it would in the rest of the world). Also, doing this would pretty much disqualify you from joining many Japanese student clubs (with their strict hierarchy) – there would simply be too big a culture clash.

Aside from this, this is not recommended for people who dislike being the center of attention – obviously.

Type 3: The “Ghetto Gaijin”

Motto: “I am in Rome?”

From my experience this is really the default that a majority foreign students find themselves in. Basically, gaijins who clump with other gaijins – and there are many. If you go to any university with a sizable foreign population there’s usually a very obvious “foreign table” at lunch in the cafeteria.

For the most part this can’t be helped. Because you’ll likely be living in a dorm with other gaijin. If you’re taking classes in English they’re likely to be populated with other foreign students (maybe not so much for grad school). This is not to mention language barriers – if you can’t speak Japanese then you’ll be limited to interacting with other foreigners, and perhaps a limited number of Japanese who can speak your language.

There’s other things too like “soto” and “uchi”, shyness etc. But those have been written about to death already so I’ll skip that.

Pros

This is extremely ironic, but lots of people come to Japan and end up making lots of friends from other countries that aren’t Japan. So it isn’t rare that people go away from Japan with an extremely diverse group of friends and people to visit all around the world. Plus, having classes, discussing and interacting with other foreigners is, in its own way, a form of “global education” too.

But the main reason why gaijin clump is that to be frank – it is much easier than the above two approaches. After all, this does not require any Japanese ability and in school you’ll likely be together anyway. Plus there wouldn’t be any need to deal with culture shock etc.

Cons

If the point of coming to Japan is to experience it, then this approach cuts out half of the experience.

In addition, the best way to learn Japanese is to use it and be exposed to it continually – if someone is mainly speaking English with Japanese only being used in the classes then it’s really no different from Japanese classes you would get back in his or her home countries. Lots of “ghetto gaijin” go back home with an improved level of Japanese – but it would certainly be better if they were using it more regularly when they were in Japan.

To Sum Up

I think from what I’ve observed, the first one or two months many foreign students start with the “gaijin?” approach – they try to join student clubs, go for international exchange parties etc. However as time passes more and more drop out of the clubs and as the Japanese tend to clump, the foreign students do so too and “ghettoize” themselves.

Anyway, there is no “superior method” among the three here. Your personality type, Japanese ability, interests and even how your classes are arranged will affect greatly the method which you will choose. And there’s probably other sub-types and mixes and whatever that can be talked about too. But just pick the one that fits you best or maybe one that was written about in this article. But no guarantees though – your mileage may vary.

Lack of progress is not always due to lack of effort or desire to learn, but often students simply don’t know how to make the best use of their time abroad. So, let’s take a look at some things you can do before and after arriving in Japan to up your chances of becoming Nihong perapera (fluent in Japanese).

Strategy #1: Formal Study

Being in Japan will bring lots of opportunities to work on your speaking and listening skills, but if you don’t hit the books before departing chances are you’ll be spending precious hours that could have been used for socializing locked up in your room, regretting that you didn’t study before you left.

If you don’t already know them, get your hiragana and katakana down before you go, and being able to read kanji to a reasonable extent will make your life a lot easier (can I suggest Wanikani?). Then I would suggest focusing on vocabulary and grammar for conversational purposes, as it seems most logical to have improving your spoken Japanese as your primary goal while you are in the country. As with most languages Japanese has lots of words that are often printed but rarely used when speaking and vice versa, so what you want to do is concentrate on the spoken stuff.

In my experience, studying with Japanese drama is an incredibly effective way to do this for vocabulary, as you’re hearing “natural” (okay, I know it’s staged, but you get what I mean) Japanese and getting an idea of the contexts in which it’s used. As for grammar, though I do not take the JLPT as a good measure of language ability, I would suggest familiarizing yourself with the grammar required up to N3 – that would equip you with most of the structures you need to communicate to a reasonable level.

Finally, don’t forget to keep the formal study up while you’re in Japan. Having the chance to put what you’ve studied into practical use straight away will help you to retain the information better, and you’ll start noticing what you’ve studied pop up around you in real life, helping to fix it in your memory.

Strategy #2: Make Friends Before You Go!

If your study abroad program is organized by your university, then it probably has a reciprocal exchange agreement with the university you are going to in Japan. This means that not only do students from your university go to your chosen school in Japan, but students from that school also come to your university. Presuming you choose your study abroad destination at least a few months in advance, this gives you the perfect opportunity to meet Japanese students who will return to their home university just as you set off to study there!

Even if your university only sends students to Japan without taking any in, the existence of a magic little thing called the internet means that you don’t have to despair just yet. You could ask students at your university who have studied at your destination school to put you in contact with people over Facebook or Line. Alternatively, you could e-mail the study abroad office at your host university and ask them to hook you up (maybe don’t use that phrase exactly!) with contact information for clubs and circles involved with study abroad students, or even search on Lang-8 to see if anyone from your future Japanese school is keeping a journal there. Just make sure to go about contacting people in a way that doesn’t make you seem like an creepy internet stalker…

Strategy #3: Arrange to live with Japanese Speakers

I’m sure you’ve heard over and over and over and over again that immersion in an all-Japanese environment is one of the most efficient and effective ways to learn, and I for one certainly subscribe to this mode of thought. If you’re lucky, your school will provide accommodation in a dorm where there are Japanese speakers a’plenty, or arrange for you to do a home-stay. If that’s the case, then great, but for those who have not been so lucky I suggest you keep reading!

So, what do you do if it turns out your school is offering you a dorm with 60 study abroad students and 2 Japanese speakers living there? The first thing you can do is contact your school in Japan and ask them if they have any alternative accommodation, or if they can help you arrange a homestay with a Japanese-speaking family. If that’s a no-go then you’re going to have to take matters into your own hands.

As long as you have a connection to the interwebs then finding a place to live during your time in Japan shouldn’t be all that difficult. If a homestay appeals to you, you can search for a site that helps people find host families in the area you’re going to (Homestay in Japan is one I can recommend), or perhaps very nicely ask the Japanese friends you’ve made (as instructed above) if they know anyone who would like to host a student. If a home-stay doesn’t sound like your cup of tea, you could check out to see if there are any share-houses in the area where you can share with Japanese speakers, or ask your school to see if there would be any students interested in sharing a room with you.

Strategy #4: Take A Class That Isn’t About Japanese Or Japan

I’m not saying don’t take Japanese classes – chances are that you’ll be required to, but if you take nothing but Japanese language and culture classes then you probably won’t be being exposed to much real Japanese, will be more inclined to let the class set the pace of your learning, and will have less interaction with Japanese students. Koichi has already written about the pros and cons of Japanese classes, so I won’t go into too much detail, but the thing about classroom-based language learning is that it can only do so much for you.

I suggest that alongside your Nihongo lessons you also sign up for at least one undergraduate class, preferably connected to a topic or subject you’re interested in. One of the best ways to improve your spoken language is to listen to and imitate native speakers, so taking a class in Japanese about a topic you love and want to talk about seems like a pretty solid plan – not necessarily easy, but a solid plan. Furthermore, if you’re listening to someone speak about a topic you like, you’re probably going to have enough background knowledge to help you infer the meanings of words that you don’t already know.

Taking a class intended for native Japanese speakers might sound a bit… okay, very intimidating, especially if you’re worried about things like grades and credits. Fortunately, most lecturers will allow you to participate as a kyōkōsei – a student who attends classes, but is not required to submit assignments or take exams. Sure, you won’t get any official recognition for taking it, but hopefully you’ll be able to learn a lot in exchange for your time.

I will end this section with a word of warning: just because the title of a class sounds interesting doesn’t mean it will be interesting. Before signing up, be sure to check out the details of what exactly is on the syllabus, and ask around to see if any of your Japanese friends have taken the course or classes with the same teacher.

Strategy #5: Join a club/circle (that isn’t related to English!)

Lenna has already written about her experiences joining a club during study abroad, and while she emphasizes that it’s no walk in the park I would strongly urge anyone looking to improve their Japanese communication ability to join one.

As with taking a class you’re interested in, you’re going to be learning language related to something you enjoy and want to talk about, which is a great incentive to learn. Moreover – particularly if you’re doing something that requires a lot of teamwork – you are going to to need to communicate, and nothing helps you learn language faster than being in a situation where you’re forced to use it.

Hopefully you’ll have noticed the bit in the brackets above: “that isn’t related to English”. While ‘international clubs’, ‘cultural exchange clubs’, etc. can seem very appealing and welcoming to study abroad students, they’re usually full other English-speaking study students, and it’s more than likely there’s going to be a lot of Japanese students looking to ‘practice’ their English with (or should I say on?) you.

It’s also a good idea to check out what clubs and circles are on offer in the university and contact them before you arrive, so that they know you are coming and you can secure you place amongst their number

Strategy #6: Do A Part-Time Job (That Is Not Teaching English!)

Source: http://photozou.jp/photo/show/124201/78405736

You’ll notice we have brackets again! Yes, it’s easy to find part-time work teaching English, it’s not too difficult, and it’s well-paid, BUT it’s not going to help you improve your Japanese much. Looking at the bigger picture, you’re much better off getting a regular part-time job using Japanese, even if it means a slightly lower salary.

Obviously, your level of Japanese will part-determine the range of jobs you will qualify to do, but having a basic command of the language should at least enable you to pack shelves in a supermarket. No, not particularly glamorous, but it’s going to put you in an all-Japanese environment, and as your Japanese ability improves throughout the year you’ll hopefully be able to progress to a better position.

Part-time jobs are abundant in Japan, and you won’t have trouble finding a shop with an arubaito bosyū (part-time staff wanted) sign stuck in the window. There are also plenty of websites such as Town Work where you can search for local jobs online (you can always ask a Japanese friends to help you navigate these sites). When applying, you’ll need to submit a Japanese resume, which is always written to a standard format. Check out this very useful page at Japan Career for the details!

Study abroad students are not automatically entitled to engage in part-time work; to do this, you’ll need to fill out a “permission to engage in activity other than that permitted under the visa status previously granted” form (how’s that for a title?) and will then be able to work a maximum of 28 hours a week, or 8 hours a day during long holidays.

Have you been on study abroad to Japan? Is there anything that you think really helped you improve your Japanese while away, or anything you regret doing/not doing? Let me know in the comments below.

The stuff that’ll be in the article is only meant as a guide though – the information is only correct to the best of my information and that of the people I have asked. Different schools may have their own selection processes which are different from the norm. Similarly the application processes and how to get to Japan differ greatly between what you’re also coming as – a university exchange student will have a very different process from someone coming for vocational training.

In this post I’m going to be focusing on how to get here on full length vocational training and/or university courses. I won’t be looking at exchange programs since that sort of information depends on an each individual institution (please talk to your guidance counselors for more information). On the topic of going to Japan for full length courses there is very little information to go on, so I hope to fill that hole just a little bit.

Monbukagakusho (Monbusho)

The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan?

Let’s start with the Monbukagakusho scholarship – which I myself am on. This is also often otherwise known as the “Monbusho Scholarship” (which I will use for the rest of the article) or the “Monkasho Scholarship” For a scholarship with such good terms and conditions, there’s both a lack of information as well as lots of inaccurate information out there about it.

Firstly, the Monbusho is a fully paid scholarship provided by the The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan (seriously, you’d think that they’d shorten it) for prospective students aiming to study in Japan. The scholarship is often referred to as the Monbusho scholarship, Monkasho scholarship, or MEXT scholarship. It involves not only a waiving of tuition fees but also includes a stipend which is more than enough to live on in Japan.

The scholarship is provided for vocational schools, undergraduate programs as well as graduate programs in Japan (exchange students also have a separate scholarship provided). However, for the undergraduate program, the scholarship is limited to public universities – so don’t apply to the scholarship hoping to go to Sophia, Keio or Waseda.

Generally aside from this the main gist of the scholarship will not differ from what privately financed students have to go through (a period of language school followed by vocational school or university).

The differences between Monbusho and non-Monbusho students will be listed in the following sections.

Japanese Language School

Most – but not all – students go through a period of language education within Japan before starting their formal education in a vocational school or university. Notable exceptions are a significant proportion of graduate students or students going through courses in English.

As you can imagine – Japanese school teaches you well… Japanese! Duh. But in addition to that many schools will also teach you academic subjects such as physics and chemistry in Japanese – which a JLPT Level 1 person does not necessarily know. Thus, there is value in going for such schools even if you have an advanced level of Japanese.

Do note that some language schools will also organize events during which representatives of universities and vocational schools will come to do outreach so this may be useful if you are also planning to apply for your further education in Japan. Don’t expect the big names like the University of Tokyo etc. to come though – these know that people will apply to them without them organizing such outreach activities.

Where I was for a year in Osaka

For Monbusho undergraduate scholars you will be doing a year long prep course in either Osaka University (ahh the good times) or the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. For Monbusho vocational school scholars you will be having a separate year long prep course in either the Tokyo Japanese Language Education Center or the Osaka Japanese Language Education Center.

The language schools are not strictly necessary though – some universities and other institutions accept direct applications without requiring a period of study in Japan. Monbusho scholars may also apply for a waiver for the language education year (which I do not recommend however). Anyway, this brings us to …

The Applications

I can’t really go that much into detail here because each university and technical school has their own guidelines and application processes.

Generally however, if you’re looking to study in Japanese most places (especially universities) will require you to have done the Examination for Japanese University Admission for International Students (EJU). While there are some colleges which accept a JLPT certificate, in most cases an EJU score is necessary and a JLPT N1 pass is in no way a waiver for the EJU. It goes without saying that this is in addition to typical documentation (eg. high school grades and standardized test scores) that is expected. The EJU is however, usually not necessary for students who are coming to Japan to study in English.

Some institutions may also put in place additional requirements such as a TOEFL score for non-native English speakers. Some schools will also require an additional exam in addition to the document screening – this may come in the form of interviews (in person especially for those applying from within Japan or through Skype for those applying from overseas) and/or further paper examinations.

Do note that the semester in which you will start school depends on the program and on the institution. Generally school starts in April and if you’re studying in Japanese you’ll almost surely be starting then too. Given the application period is generally near August. However, if you are studying in English you may start (or have a choice to start) in September / October. In which case your application period will likely be near the end of the year.

For applications for the Monbusho program and scholarship, the best thing to do is to contact your respective country’s embassy because apparently procedure differs. However, in terms of applications into university within the Monbusho program during your language education period things work this way.

Firstly, vocational and graduate students have their institute decided before arriving in Japan and I haven’t heard of anyone who has managed to change it. However, for the undergraduate admissions, you don’t have to go through the typical admissions process with all the paperwork (thank goodness). However, your scores in your prep course will determine where you go and you will be competing against your fellow Monbusho scholars for a limited number of places at the public universities of Japan.

I can’t stress this enough but the Monbusho is not a straight ticket to a top ranked Japanese school. Do not expect to just sweep into the University of Tokyo or Kyoto after your one year of Japanese education. Competition is tough especially for popular majors such as engineering and economics. In fact, while most get into well regarded schools in Japan, do poorly enough and you may get thrown to a university in the middle of nowhere. And even if you do decently, you’ll be (to be brutally frank) competing against people from other countries – some of which may have a better education system than yours, and some of which may be more (for lack of a better term) exam-oriented than yours.

As I said before though, most do well enough to get into highly ranked universities – but just be aware. Overconfidence is not going to lead you anywhere.

So In Conclusion…

This article is just to give you a rough idea about applying to Japan and hopefully allow you to start thinking about what to do.

There are some things which I wasn’t able to touch on though, like for example grad school applications. And while I hope that this article has been informative please do your own research! It’s your future after all.

P.S. A picture of the instructions for a urine test which I received at Osaka U!

Correction: This article originally stated that the monbusho is unavailable for graduate studies in private universities. This is false and has been corrected.

(Note: I’ll try my best to answer questions in the comments. I may write a part 2 if there’s enough questions on the same topic or if there are any requests for further topics)

Useful Links!

• http://www.studyjapan.go.jp/en/toj_stope.html – General information
• http://www.jasso.go.jp/study_j/schinfo_e.html#info2 – General information
• http://www.nisshinkyo.org/search/index_e.html – List of schools catering Japanese language education.
• http://www.jasso.go.jp/eju/tonichimae_list_e.html – List of schools allowing direct admission to overseas applicants (excluding English courses)

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Bonus Wallpapers!

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The Reasons

The famous red gates (赤門) of the University of Tokyo

Now, going overseas for college or for an exchange is widely considered to be a good thing – for your resume, for your worldly knowledge, or even for your plain and simple enjoyment.

The question then is: “why Japan?” Obviously if you’re doing a Japanese Studies major or have a very strong interest in Japanese stuff like many of the writers on this blog, the reasons are obvious. But for those who are wavering between Japan or another country, or those still a bit unsure, here are some reasons for your consideration.

1. It really isn’t that expensive

Lots of people probably have heard that Japan is ridiculously expensive – pointing out the many “Most Expensive Cities in the World to Live In” in which Tokyo and Osaka often rank near the top.

The first thing to note is that such surveys often measure the cost of a working expat. Thus the cost of renting an apartment and a car is often factored in. Obviously, as a student you probably aren’t aiming to own your own car in Japan and if you’re in a hostel the rent is significantly lowered. Plus, if you’re from North America or Western Europe, you’ll find the typical 500 yen meals fairly cheap. Think about eating out every meal for about 5 US dollars/3 pounds/4 euros. And there’s no tipping too. Nonetheless things (and especially fruits!) may look expensive if you’re not from the above areas though.

If you’re thinking of spending your whole college life in Japan, tuition is also relatively cheap. For example (the information below is from the official websites), the University of Tokyo’s annual tuition fee is ￥585,800 or about 5,400 US dollars. Private universities tend to be a bit more expensive with Waseda’s School of International Liberal Studies’ school fees near ￥1,500,000 or near 15,000 US dollars a year. While this may be expensive for someone who comes from a country with no tuition fees, it certainly does not reach say, US college fees.

In addition (and which will be covered in a later article), scholarships for both exchange students and full time students are quite common in Japan. Many foreign students in Japan under them have a large part (if not all) of their living expenses etc. covered.

2. You will (be forced to) learn a different language

But can’t you learn the language without going to Japan? Well, yes, somewhat, but there’s a whole new depth to things when you have to live in a different language. For example, very few textbooks are going to teach you what an onion is in Japanese – tamanegi. And certainly none of them are going to tell you what the kanji (玉葱) are. But going to a supermarket in Japan and puzzling over what the things are is in itself a very big opportunity to learn Japanese.

Basically, no one is going to look at you and say “oh this person is at so-and-so level of Japanese and so let’s make the kanji easier for him.” – the level of immersion quite simply is different.

No guarantees though – some people come and don’t put in the effort to learn so it’s no surprise that they go back with a poor grasp of the language, stopping at somewhere between “konnichiwa” and “sayonara.”

3. You (probably) won’t need to study hard

This does depend on the university. But generally, if there’s one thing that Japanese universities are not known for, it is academic vigor. So, if you come to Japan hoping for deep discussions with the Japanese students about Japanese philosophy or some probing into the problems of Japanese society with great academic depth you will most likely be disappointed.

This is because firstly, the Japanese students don’t really take college that seriously. After all – as someone once told me before, in Japan “college is the spring break of life.” (more on this in a later article) In addition, if you’re here on an exchange program or a degree course in English, well, let’s just say that much of the teaching staff doing the courses aren’t really fluent in English.

But on the other hand, generally speaking you’ll have enough time to travel or do whatever you want. So if you’re looking to have a relaxed time or if you subscribe to the mentality that “the real learning happens outside the classroom”, this can be an opportunity in itself.

4. But you will learn nonetheless

And I don’t mean just the language.

This is because Japan as a society is just really different. Even to other Asians, it is just really different.

It is precisely because it is so different that you may oddly learn more about your home country after coming to Japan – for the simple reason that living in Japan will offer you a basis for comparison by which you can judge your home country.

And of course, you’ll learn about Japan first-hand. No matter how much someone reads this blog or any other website on Japan, the fact is that we can only provide a limited view of Japan colored by our respective biases. Nothing beats, and nothing can beat, experiencing Japan first hand with its ups-and-downs.

You’ll also probably learn more about yourself. If you’ve never lived alone before you’ll have to learn. If you have never lived in another country before you’ll experience the culture shock and learn to question all the assumptions that you had about life. Like, how you would think that ATMs, being machines, do not need rest (they apparently do in Japan).

5. Better to do it while you’re a student

I’ll be honest here. Japan isn’t for everyone. Every year lots of foreigners come to Japan to work not knowing a single thing about Japan and expecting paradise. If they like it – then all’s well, but for a significant proportion of people it ends up being an entirely different experience.

The good thing about coming as a college student is that because it is “the spring break of life”, you have time to observe, listen to stories from people currently working in Japan, and then make a decision on whether or not staying in Japan for the long term is for you.

You certainly wouldn’t want to be in the situation which many foreigners working in Japan find themselves in. More precisely, one where you come to Japan having a distorted view of it, find out that it isn’t what you expected and then are faced with the dilemma of enduring or going home and having to do the job search all over again.

And to end off…

Perhaps one big reason for why you should come to Japan is that Japan needs you. At the moment the whole of Japan is captivated by this idea of “internationalization” (国際化). In short, having largely not been that accepting of foreign input, many Japanese companies and perhaps Japan’s society as a whole have been coming under intense pressure from foreign competition.

Japan is thus starting to realize that it needs to accept more diversity and allow for a wider range of viewpoints. Due to this, Japan is facing the challenge of bringing in more foreigners as employees, researchers and of course as students.

How effective Japan’s attempts at “internationalization” are is up for debate, but what is also true is that in the universities right now, there are too few international students for there to be any effective “internationalization”.

Obviously the problem is deeper than that – the culture of homogeneity needs to be addressed too – but Japan still needs you here to give it some international stimulation. So, I hope that this article has given you some information to think over – and who knows? Maybe I’ll see you studying around in Japan soon!

Update:
Hey people, I think I’ve been a bit unclear and misleading with the title. Basically, while I do indeed hope that some people will come for the full four years for college, this article also applies to people who are thinking of study-abroad programs. The next article will tackle directly the idea of Japan’s universities being spring breaks of life so I hope to address that too.