Your Guide to Meiji

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Sean-Paul Robinson

England, London
School of Political Science and Economics
1 Year Exchange Student from University of Manchester

My Experience as an Exchange Student at Meiji

Adrian Morris
I

like languages and having studied a number of European languages already I decided I wanted to study something different and explore a new culture. I picked Japanese because of a lifelong fascination with Japan and Japanese culture. I wanted to make Japanese friends and improve my Japanese language ability.

I really wanted to study in Tokyo because it is one of the major cities of the world, and Meiji University has a very good reputation. Despite it’s stature it seemed more inclusive and less elitist than other Tokyo universities. Although Izumi International House is some distance away from Ochanomizu, where I knew I would have all of my lessons, the proximity of the residence to Shinjuku and other interesting, exciting areas was also attractive to me.

I have had a very exciting, fulfilling time studying at Meiji. The campus was easy to navigate and the facilities are excellent. All of my teachers were very kind, helpful and informative. If I ever had any questions or needed any help they were only too happy to offer guidance. All my classes were interesting and I really feel that my time studying here was worthwhile. The students I met were all very friendly and I will definitely keep in contact with many of them.

It’s hard to say what my best memory of my time here in Tokyo is, because I have so many great memories. I really enjoyed just exploring different areas of Tokyo. Not necessarily just the well known places but the less glamorous, more ordinary places too. I enjoyed just walking around random areas of Tokyo watching normal Japanese life.

There were many things that surprised me about life here, for example, the way everyone is so unfailingly polite all the time. That is not to say that people are not polite in England but certainly not to the same degree. I was really touched and surprised at the kindness of ordinary Japanese people.

Not being able to communicate in Japanese efficiently and effectively, made my life quite hard, especially at first. There isn’t anything in particular that helped me cope and overcome the difficulty other than just sheer determination; trying to learn as much as I could manage (e.g. kanji, vocabulary), and trying to get as much speaking practice as I could by talking to anyone I could find. Fortunately most of the Japanese people I came across were very patient and because of that I was able to increase my communication skills.

In the future I would love to return to Japan to live and work. Ideally a multinational corporation of some kind or even something like diplomacy. Even if I am not able to return to Japan, I still want to work in a capacity that allows me to use my Japanese ability.

My only advice to those who want to study in Japan for a year is that your time in Japan will be what you make of it. Some aspects of living here for a year are going to be difficult, but the more you try, the more effort you put into the year, the better your time will be.

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