First Month of Exchange

Hello everyone! I know it's been a LONG while since I've updated about my exchange. I've basically been through a month of my exchange already! Lots of things to update here about it. I think this blog will be more of an informational update. I will update again later with photos of the beautiful city and country I'm in right now (Kyoto, Japan).

So last time I left off at budget planning. Let's talk about the application of the student visa. Basically once they get the Certificate of Eligibility back from the Kyoto Consulate or whatever office that it comes from, they will send you the last package through express mail. For Spring term, I got mine around second week of March? This is REALLY late and last minute. Once you get that package, rush to your town's Japan Consulate or wherever you apply for Japan visas. Make sure you have a photo with you, around the size of 3cm x 4cm I believe. (4cm is the height). I think you also need your actual passport and country's ID and also photocopies of it. Don't really remember if you need anything else. But do rush to get it done. Because depending on where you are and how fast your country gets things done, it will take around 3-5 business days to get the visa done. They will take your passport and give it back when it's done. The visa looks REALLY nice and it's inside your passport. Remember to keep your Certificate of Eligibility and BRING it with you ON the plane because when you go through customs in Japan, you will need to show them it.

Arrival to Japan was very smooth! Got through customs pretty fast. At customs, they will give you your resident card, which is valid for a year. It doesn't include your address so you will have to go to a Ward Office nearby in Kyoto to get your Japan address added onto the back or else it won't be valid and you can't use it. I think they give you 2 weeks to do this.

I got placed into Shugakuin International House. It is a residence that is the second closest to the University. The closest one is Yoshida International House, which is right on campus. I would say, if you want to save money, the best residence is Shugakuin International House (only if you are willing to bike everyday). If you want conveniency and save time, the best residence would be the one on campus, Yoshida International House. From the airport, I took MK Taxi to my residence because it's easier and faster to get there, especially when it's my first time here and I don't know my way around yet. For MK Taxi, you have to book it in advance. At least 2 days before the date and time you need to use it. You can go on their website to get this done. Here is their website:

* MK Taxi - Kyoto <-> Kansai Airport Website *

So if you want to use it, book it in advance! If you booked it, you just go to their counter at the far side of the airport. Tell them your name and you just wait till they leave. Remember it takes around 2-3 hours to get to Shugakuin International House. And the last time they let people check-in is at 5pm. So plan your flight to arrive at Kansai Airport early!

So there were quite a lot of admin things to get done. After arrival and move in, there was an orientation a few days later. It had lots of information packages and things you need to sign and passports to photocopy for them. If you applied for Jasso Scholarship, you should have gotten an email near the end of March saying if you got it or not. If you didn't get it, that means you didn't get it. That's one thing I find that they didn't do well with. I didn't get the Jasso Scholarship, but I didn't know it because they didn't send out rejection letters. I only found out because my other friends that are also going to Kyoto University with me got it and I didn't. Apparently only 15 students get it each term and they look at marks.

Also a few days after you move in, there is also a Japanese Language Placement Test for students that want to take Japanese courses. I didn't end up taking the test because I decided not to take any Japanese courses. I would have liked to but I know I won't have time on top of my 6 KUINEP courses and Japanese language courses take up a lot of slots and time. And my major goal in coming here is to explore and travel around to experience the culture. But if you want to improve your Japanese, you should definitely take some of the language classes. They eat up a lot of your time though. It really depends on what your goal in doing this exchange is.

For courses, they start the week after you're expected to move in. The first week, you can attend any course and it's all informational and orientation type. After going to the first class, then you apply for which courses you want to take. So it's kinda like you get to see how the course is like before you actually take it. Some of the courses that were said to be offered before we came, got cancelled. Some got changed into something else. Some were newly added. So don't expect to be taking the exact 6 courses you chose when you applied to Kyoto University. Most of the courses seem pretty easy. Attendance makes up a lot of the marks for some of them. There is a policy where you can't miss KUINEP classes more than 3 times or else it's an automatic 0% for the course. So becareful and watch your attendance. Some courses have a lot of weekly homework while some don't. Some have presentations and some have group work. Depends on what you're taking.

Another important thing to talk about is a bank account. If you got the Jasso scholarship, you have to make a bank account. According to my friends, you get the scholarship at the END of the month. So bring enough money to last your first month. Bring extra is my advice because my friends ran out of money very fast. If you want to open a bank account, you have to have the address added onto the back of your resident card at the Ward Office in Kyoto. If you don't have that done, you can't open the bank account. I opened my bank account at the Japan Post Office Bank. There's one at the major intersection of Kyoto University and they're very used to International students opening up an account so setting it up there is easy. However, if you want to open a bank account where you can do international transfers from international bank accounts (ie get money from your parents through their bank account) then you shouldn't open it here. There's only one bank that would allow you to do it. My friends opened it there, it is near Kyoto Station. You have to get a inkan or hanko. They are name stamps. I'm not sure what the bank is called but if you want to know, comment and I will ask them for you. They have a branch near our school, except you have to open the account at the main one near Kyoto Station.

Another important thing to talk about is mobile phones. You also need to get your address stamped on the back of your resident card to be able to get this done. There are different paths you can take with this. If you are staying here for a year+, then you can get a phone plan or contract because if you want to get an actual plan, you have to sign a contract for at least a year. If you cancel it before that, you have to pay extra. So if you're only here for a term, it isn't worth signing a contract for. The other option is prepaid. There's 2 options for prepaid. If you want just a simple and cheap prepaid plan, only Softbank does prepaid plans. You buy the phone along with the sim card for around 2100 yen. Then you have to buy a charger for it which is like around 1000 yen. Then the plan goes like this. 3000 yen credit that lasts for 2 months. You pay 300 yen from that per month for unlimited SMS and Mobile Mail. This is the plan I got because it is the cheapest and it is enough for me to use. Personally the phone is a bit dumb if you're texting in english, but it isn't a that much of a big deal for me since I don't text that much or call at all. I just need it for contacting people when I'm out. I got this done at a department store called Yodobashi near Kyoto Station. I asked at a store somewhere else and they didn't sell it. So I'm not sure if only big places have the prepaid or not. But at Yodobashi, they may have some employees that can speak english a bit so it'll be easier to communicate. Also, they have a point card that you can apply for free right away and you can earn points from buying your phone. You can use these points to save it on other things you might end up buying at Yodobashi. Which is a pretty good deal! The other option for prepaid is at this other company called b-mobile. You pay around 3000 yen per month and you get unlimited data. So if you want to use your own smartphone, this is the better deal. I'm not sure if they have microsim cards for iphones, but if you're using an android phone, it'll definitely work. Also, you have to make sure your phone is carrier unlocked. Which means that it is not locked to your own carrier in your own country. And also your phone as to be a GSM phone to be able to use in Japan I believe. I know some people like to have data everywhere they go and get GPS etc, but if you don't think it's something you actually need, you can go with the cheaper Softbank plan. For me I think the Softbank plan is enough.

Another thing I have to mention here is bikes. In Kyoto, a lot of people travel by bicycle because it is a cheap transportation tool. If you live at Shugakuin, you should probably get a bike. It will save you a lot of transportation money to school and it will be very convenient to get around. There are lots of new bike shops around. I bought my bike used at a store called Erin which is near school. They have the cheapest used bikes and it is pretty good. And you can sell it again when you leave. When you get here, you will realize how many people use bikes. You also have to get a bicycle license when you buy your bike, which is a yellow sticker that they give you. There are a lot of rules regarding biking and bicycle parking. Make sure you read and learn them. Even though some of them aren't followed by many people, but knowing it will be useful information so that you won't get pulled over by a police.

Last thing I'm going to talk in this post is about paying your electricity bills and rent. For residence, it doesn't include electricity. For guys, electricity is around 1000 yen a month if you don't use it like crazy. For girls it's around 3000 yen a month if you don't use it like crazy. Why is there such a big difference? That's because for girls, we have our own bathroom and shower inside our rooms. The water heater heats up EVERY single night for us to have hot water. If it doesn't, you don't have hot water the next day (actually they tell you this but I've tested it, you can have hot water the second day no problem, but the third and fourth day is only warm water until you use it up, then no more hot or warm water). It is very dumb. So for electricity bills, you just take it to any convenience store, and give it to the cashier. They will ring it up for you, then you pay in cash or whatever and then you're done. Very simple. For rent, you can pay anywhere, post office or bank. BUT there is a service fee of around 400 yen. If you want to save 400 yen off the service fee, you can go to the Sumitomo Mitsui bank to pay. It is the same bank that Shugakuin uses so there is no service fee. It is at Shijo area.

I think this update is pretty long. Next time I blog, I will talk about the food and other things! I will also have another post with photos and another few posts about Golden Week, transportation, circles/clubs, Tokyo and Osaka! Look forward to it!

~ Kakikala ~