Who is planning or has studied/lived in Japan?

[Saranghae17]

OBJECTIVITY

Homestay might help with the costs of living, food etc etc. My friend did homestay in France as a junior in HS and loved it. He is still in contact with his host family 6yrs later! surprised Just save up now. I know I am. I have learned my lesson. Lol. I think Tokyo is one of the most expensive places to live as of 2009. whee

Tokyo has the best night life, scenic landscape pockets and plenty of new things to discover. If you are going in the art direction, you will be inspired. Lol. Good luck on your journey and I hope everything works out for you. 3nodding

Thank you! blaugh

[fayebelly]

Chekira

Is the living cost for Japan higher than in the US?

Also with homestay what happens if you tend to be a bit antisocial? I don't mean in the sense of you hate to talk to people etc but just when it comes to having your privacy and own space. When you stay at their home do you constantly have to be friendly, cheerful, etc. or can you stay put in your room? Also, how long did it take for you to feel comfortable? sweatdrop

Cost of living is WAY higher... Clothes are REALLY expensive (but always good quality)... Food is cheap if it's rice or fish, everything else is pretty expensive... Especially fruit, 'cause it's all seasonal (at least, where I was)... And living somewhere is expensive.

As for a homestay... It really depends on the family you've got... However, from my experience most Japanese people are pretty reserved to the point where it can come of as stand-offish to people who don't understand... So they're more than likely to give you a lot of space and privacy. When I did my homestay I was so scared I didn't even stay there for the first two nights, I stayed with a friend who lived over an hour away... ^^:; She was really nice though... She was really used to having homestays too so I'd just get on with my day, then we'd meet up at dinner time and talk about my day or whatever... And she'd sometimes invite me to go places with her... So it was pretty laidback.

[Krystal Jade]

Saranghae17

I'm a junior in High School and I'm seriously considering attending Temple University in Japan. The classes are taught in english and they offer crash courses to japanese. Hopefully, I won't need the beginning lessons because I intend to start taking Japanese at the local Community College in my town next semester. However, the University offeres the choice of living in the dorms for a semester and then finding your own place, or a homestay.

I had decided on the Dorm route because I have a friend who will (hopefully) attend the university with me and I figured we could find a place together after the first semester. But now that I've read this form, I'm thinking a homestay would be a better choice. What's your guys advice? Also, the campus in located in, like, the heart of Tokyo, should that make a difference in my overall decision? What are some of your guys bad experiences? I don't want to go into this blindly :S

Just one thing to keep in mind since you're thinking of going to a school in Tokyo: getting a homestay in Tokyo (as in, staying in the 'city proper' so to speak) will be more competitive and harder to come by then if you were going to study in a more rural setting. At least, this is what the study abroad adviser at my school told everyone who was looking to study abroad in Japan and said they wanted to do a homestay. That being said, most of the people from my school who did ultimately decide to study in Tokyo and applied for a homestay got it.

[Krystal Jade]

Chekira

Is the living cost for Japan higher than in the US?

Also with homestay what happens if you tend to be a bit antisocial? I don't mean in the sense of you hate to talk to people etc but just when it comes to having your privacy and own space. When you stay at their home do you constantly have to be friendly, cheerful, etc. or can you stay put in your room? Also, how long did it take for you to feel comfortable? sweatdrop

Compared to what I'm used to paying for things in the US, electronics, clothes, and some foods were much more expensive. Books, magazines and some foods were cheaper. (yay for me because I'm a bookworm 3nodding )

At least based on my personal experience, you get plenty of privacy and space. My host mom would ask when about I was planning to be home, and occasionally ask who I was going out with. Usually though, it was her just asking to confirm what she already suspected/knew: I was going out with the people from the club I'd joined. smile Sometimes I think they wanted me to come out and do things with them, but that's mostly because I think my host mom worried sometimes that I spent too much time studying sweatdrop I would say that even if I had a bad day/was stressed out, I would try hard to at least be polite.

To be honest, it took me a while to get used to them; but since I was their 3rd or 4th homestay student, they were used to me within a day it felt like! xd But, since I'm a little bit introverted and shy, it took me a while to get used to things and to stop worrying constantly about doing something to offend them without meaning to. sweatdrop In hindsight though, I think that would have been hard to do since my host family seems to realize that people from different cultures and countries do things differently, etc.

[PolyglotKoko]

Krystal Jade

Saranghae17

I'm a junior in High School and I'm seriously considering attending Temple University in Japan. The classes are taught in english and they offer crash courses to japanese. Hopefully, I won't need the beginning lessons because I intend to start taking Japanese at the local Community College in my town next semester. However, the University offeres the choice of living in the dorms for a semester and then finding your own place, or a homestay.

I had decided on the Dorm route because I have a friend who will (hopefully) attend the university with me and I figured we could find a place together after the first semester. But now that I've read this form, I'm thinking a homestay would be a better choice. What's your guys advice? Also, the campus in located in, like, the heart of Tokyo, should that make a difference in my overall decision? What are some of your guys bad experiences? I don't want to go into this blindly :S

Just one thing to keep in mind since you're thinking of going to a school in Tokyo: getting a homestay in Tokyo (as in, staying in the 'city proper' so to speak) will be more competitive and harder to come by then if you were going to study in a more rural setting. At least, this is what the study abroad adviser at my school told everyone who was looking to study abroad in Japan and said they wanted to do a homestay. That being said, most of the people from my school who did ultimately decide to study in Tokyo and applied for a homestay got it.

Having applied for Temple University there is a lot more to keep in mind.
Here are a few examples:

1) Because it's an American University abroad the tuition is going to be very expensive.
2) If for any reason you decide to take a semester off, you must return to your home country until the next the semester you decide to attend is about to begin. (Only if they are sponsoring your student visa though)
3) You must find a place to live in as well as have a job that you can get under a student visa. (So that you can survive on your own and what not).

Anything else you need to know or have questions about go here: http://www.tuj.ac.jp/newsite/main/undergrad/admissions/visa_application/index.html

[Chekira]

I heard it was more expensive than here in the US

So how much would you say would be a good amount for anyone planning to travel there? Also how much would be good depending on their situation once in the country such as if there doing a homestay, rr going for school, Or even just to go settle down first then find a job once there? What part of tokyo is the least expensive for a young adult first travelling there with a student or working visa would you say? I have two more years before I actually make plans to go study or work in Japan. I'm a junior in college now but I want to make sure I go with a reasonable amount of money

[ferslayerx]

ninja
Japames__ Unicode XD

[SpontaniousSteve]

i actually plan on applying to colleges in Japan

[Tangkalamai]

Silver Revolution

I want to travel there, but do not want to live there.

[Chekira]

SpontaniousSteve

i actually plan on applying to colleges in Japan

Best of luck. I hope you get in.
I'm planning to go to school there as well but I want to enter graduate school whee