Quote:
Originally Posted by Irenicus
So, anyway, it's not *exactly* what the thread's about but I have a dilemma I'm posting up for the lovely people at Asuki to comment on nonetheless.
In short: I want to go study abroad in Japan.
That's nice and all, and I'm not particularly afraid of culture shocks or anything like that*. I also have academic goals I wish to achieve there (Japanese language proficiency and familiarity with Japan itself will make me a much better "Asian" historian), though they're honestly just secondary to me wanting to go there and have the experience of my life.
The problem, however, can be summed up in one word: money.
My family isn't the richest (in fact, we're rather poor -- we're right smack in the middle of Vegas, where the housing collapse hits much harder than the rest of the country with the possible exception of California), and they're reluctant to pay anything. I myself am reluctant to ask them for anything too, I'd rather try my best at scholarships and cover the rest with student loans. The big question is then: how much does it really cost, and how should I go about convincing my family? In fact, should I just drop the idea as unrealistic and go on with my life?
There are three destinations I could go to: Hiroshima, Nagasaki (for some reason both "atomic" cities -_-), and Osaka. Each of them cost upfront about 7000$-8000$ (for room and board, tuition, administrative costs, daily breakfasts + dinner) for a semester. I have yet to count in the plane tickets and actual daily expenses like lunches, traveling, etc.
Are food there expensive? Travel costs? Any hints for veterans of such a program on what to do to get around the money matters? What should I prioritize?
*I'm a first generation immigrant to the United States, living here for five years and a few months. It can't be all that much "harder," can it? Oh, and just for a mention, I'm "Asian," so probably not what the Japanese are used to as "gaijin."
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Socialising is what will kill ya. During my exchange program, I missed out attending anything simply cause I couldn't afford it, so life was basically
'host family, uni, host family, uni - weekends = indoors' for 3/4 of the year.
For a cheap restaurant, you'd need about 2000 yen (to cover travel as well, meals can be about 1000 yen inc drinks)
My program was related to my uni, so my usual student loan of 6k, covered the fee for host family, in which meals are included for breakfast and dinner and travel to uni and a little bit to survive over the 3 months until the next instalment.
You can always try to get a part time job here.... though Asian looking... probably english convo/teaching jobs won't be so quick to hire you sadly. They're kinda hesitant on any ethnic minority as a teacher for 'english'.
(Eikaiwa schools truly are superficial, but students won't request ya if they don't feel comfy with ya)
7k for a semester sure is harsh though. I can only speak in pounds which has significantly devalued anyways, but let's see…
$16k for tuition and food costs for 1 year. This should include travelling to uni (but if you have a room, then it'd be close by).
Be like the Japanese, invest in a bicycle and then travelling costs becomes cheaper. I dunno the train prices outside of Tokyo, so you'd have to research.
As I said, it depends on how much you socialise outside, but an average of 3,000-4,000 yen per week is comfy enough. I was living on 2,000 per week, but those were dire times.
So per month = 16,000 for expensive and some treats and self food, etc.
Plane tickets, depends on deals you can find and I recommend to fly out in September, not april.
But begin with the basics and establish
where you wanna study before worrying about costs and so on.
Depending on the city, the prices vary and you can adapt your lifestyle to work as cheaply but healthy as possible.
