Almost every exchange student experiences homesickness at some point. Living in an unfamiliar environment where everyone speaks another language can be alienating at times. Tokyo's case is ironic; despite being the most populous city in the world, it's easy to feel isolated…
Study Spots around Tokyo
Studying at the University of Tokyo is slightly different than at the University of Toronto. The main library shuts at 10pm all year round, and there are no twenty-four hour study spots on campus, not even during exam time. Moreover, all…
Exploring Japanese Cinema
Japanese cinema is one of the things that inspired me to study abroad. In my time here, I’ve realized that aside being a source of enjoyment, films are also a useful tool for understanding my new environment. Watching films has helped me to…
Receiving Medical Attention in Japanese
I came down with a high fever at the beginning of winter break. I learned a lot from the experience, and I'd like to share some of my findings here. In this post, I'll offer three tips for dealing with sickness while abroad.…
Japanese New Year
My break ended in a much better way than it began. As I mentioned in a previous post, I originally planned to visit Kyoto, Kobe, and Hiroshima. However, stomach flu kept me in bed for the first few days of…
Yokohama and Japanese History
I went to Yokohama for the first time last weekend to catch a play. The professor of my Japanese theatrical history course has a number of friends in the Greater Tokyo Area’s theatre scene. He somehow negotiated free admission for the…
Tips for Learning a Language
Learning another language is an important part of many exchange students' time abroad. In my case, part of the reason why I'm here is to improve my ability to read and write academic papers in Japanese. I have a history with the Japanese…
Accommodations for Exchange Students
Depending on how familiar you are with your host country and its language(s), finding accommodations abroad might seem like a daunting task. But it doesn't have to be. The University of Tokyo, for instance, offers three categories of housing to its…
Komaba Festival
A few friends and I checked out the University of Tokyo’s annual Komaba-Sai (駒場祭) festival last weekend. One day of preparation transformed the campus’ otherwise tranquil tree-lined corridors into bustling streets of food vendors and entertainers. Almost every student group…
Funding Opportunities for Exchange Students
In my first two years at U of T, I got the sense that many students were anxious about some of the purported costs of going on exchange. I heard that studying abroad was exponentially more expensive than studying at U of…