A semester in Tokyo, Japan by Ioannis Tilaveridis

I chose to spend the first semester of my master’s program (4th year of civilingenjörsutbildning) in Tokyo, Japan. The exchange program is called Young Scientist Exchange Program (YSEP), and is given by Tokyo Institute of Technology (Titech in short). I must admit that spending time in Japan was probably the most rewarding experience of my student years!

Why Japan?

This question is probably the one you will be asked mostly about by the locals when you go to Japan. Probably the main reason for choosing Japan was my curiosity of seeing with my own eyes how life really is there. We keep hearing in the news about so many things happening in Japan, both regarding technology and even weirder stuff. If you like robots, flashy streets, anime, manga, sushi, Asian culture, to mention some things, then Tokyo is the place for you!

One thing to note though, is that Japan uses a different semester system compared to Sweden, which means that the autumn semester (HT) is between September-February, and spring semester (VT) between April-August. Applying for the autumn semester means missing the chance to attend classes during the 3rd period here at KTH, and applying for the spring semester means spending your summer taking courses and doing projects. Of course, there is a lot of opportunities to travel around and going to festivals, so it’s not a big toll to pay! I spent the autumn semester there, staying in Tokyo from September to early March, and returned just in time for the exams of 3rd period, and to attend courses here during the 4th period.

The climate in Tokyo is much warmer compared to Stockholm, with temperatures usually ranging around 15-20 degrees until early November. Winter is humid but there is unlikely any snow at all, but you still need to dress warmly. During summer it’s very warm and humid, with tropical

thunderstorms pouring down a whole lot of water. The rain season lasts until late September, so no matter which semester you go there you will definitely get a taste of it.

Life of a Titech student

There are mainly two programs you can apply to in Titech, one is YSEP and the other one is ACAP. Both are very similar, including conducting some research project in one of the university’s laboratories, with the difference that YSEP has some extra mandatory courses you need to take. Of course, applying for those courses (or any other courses) is possible after you arrive there, so it doesn’t really matter which program you choose.

Your daily life at the university mainly consists of spending time in your lab doing research, and going to classes you have joined in between. It is totally up to you how much time you will spend in lab, so you can pretty much arrive and leave whenever you want. The atmosphere is like working in a company office, where everyone has their own personal desk and once a week you join lab seminars where the lab members present their progress with a power point in front of the rest and the professor, and get feedback from them. There is a loooot of talking in Japanese between the others, so maybe for a foreigner this becomes really boring at times.

Titech has a lot of campuses, with the main one being the Ookayama campus. Around the campus area there are a lot of restaurants, hot springs, a park, and stores that close really late, so you can pretty much find anything you want without having to go far away. The central city area (e.g. Shibuya) is around 20 min away, and trains run until a bit after midnight, so it really gives you a lot of options to do anything you want after you finish your work for the day.

Ookayama campus during spring and autumn seasons.

Communication

Worrying about not being good at Japanese, or maybe you can’t even speak a single word? No problem! As a high tech country, most of the stuff in Japan is done through machinery, allowing for the minimum amount of interaction between people (be it good or bad). You buy and update your commuter pass using machines near the stations (like the SL ones here). Ordering in restaurants could never get easier: just use the vending machines at the entrance to buy your order and give the ticket to the waiter after you sit. Vending machines are located pretty much anywhere, allowing you to buy drinks if you are thirsty. Japan is generally a paper country, so using credit card for small things is really uncommon.

Of course, there are a couple of places where you actually need to speak a bit of basic Japanese (like the name of the thing you want to order), but it never gets confusing enough to trouble you.

People in Tokyo seem to have a hard time conversing in English. You can experience that the language barrier remains strong. Unless it’s a tourist area, in most places you will have a hard time getting people to talk with you in English. They can understand you most of the time, but probably won’t feel comfortable enough to answer back. Japanese people are always discrete and eager to help you, and even without being able to talk with you, they will still try their best to help you understand the situation. They can be shy sometimes, and tend to be overly polite. Bowing the head is a really common greeting, and shows respect, so you’d better get used to it too because you will be seeing it a lot if you go there.

Students are a different story. Most of them are good enough to talk in English, with those having abroad experiences being the most comfortable. So around the campus area you won’t have trouble communicating with pretty much anyone. Of course, it is good to be able to speak a few phrases in Japanese, in order to encourage communication and get people to be more comfortable with talking to you.

A typical tonkatsu restaurant. You can notice the vending machine inside on the right side that allows you to buy your order and get a ticket for the waiter.

Lifestyle

Tokyo is a very highly paced society. Everyone is moving constantly with a purpose, and the city center never sleeps. Since it’s such a huge city, you will have to spend a lot of time commuting every day, since the distances are quite long. The transportation system is very big and complicated, but no worries. Using google maps is the best way to go around and it’s always accurate. You will see a lot of people on trains, especially during evening hours around 7-8 pm, when people usually return home from work. I lived in Umegaoka dormitory, which takes around 40 min to go to Ookayama campus with train. So coming home was usually the last thing on my list for the day, since it is tiring to commute back and forth a lot of times per day.

People tend to be working until very late compared to Sweden (at least 7 pm), but then again, school and work start after 9 am. Sleeping around 6 hours during the night is considered a normal thing, and people take a lot of power naps during the day, usually in trains and in the lab. Coming back using the last trains late at night is an experience by itself, since you will encounter a lot of tired people, especially salary men, returning home after a drinking round in an Izakaya restaurant with their colleagues. Bars and clubs are always welcoming to foreigners, and using open until very late at night.

From Tokyo, you have the opportunity to travel around to a lot of other places, both inside Japan and the rest of East Asia. Sightseeing will take up most of your time, as you will be wasting your day walking around in awe of the things you experience. A lot of people experience a culture shock after coming to Japan, as the country has a rich history and tradition, with so many shrines and temples around every corner. For finding what to do, I highly recommend using japan-guide.com, the official guide for experiencing Japan.

Last but not least, electronics and robots are the real deal in Tokyo. There are huge department stores (like Yodobashi Camera) pretty much in every big area, and you can spend hours there looking at electronic equipment. Arcade places are also found around every corner, and are always crowded with people enjoying playing all kinds of games. You will find yourself staring at people obsessed with beating the highest scores, moving their hands faster than your cognitive understanding. The most notable area is Akihabara, where the electric town is located. This place is also an anime and manga paradise, with a lot of events taking place there.

A crowded train station around 8 pm, with people returning home from work. Even though it looks chaotic, people are actually lining up in order to get on the train on the left side.

Cost of living

A quick search on google reveals that Tokyo is the most expensive city in the world. This really put me into thinking while I was still applying for the program. However, I then realized it’s far from the truth. Groceries and food are generally 30% cheaper than Sweden, but dairy products are a bit more

expensive. Still, the prices never exceed the Swedish standards, and I found out I was spending a lot less there for my daily needs than I usually do here.

Compared to northern Europe countries, both nightlife and entertainment are within the same price range. Normal price for beer and cocktail ranges between 350-500 JPY (100 JPY is around 8 SEK). Clubs around 2000 JPY and bars around 500 JPY for drinks. The cinema is the same price as here, but you can still discount prices for being a student or going during the first days of the month. Food in restaurants is around 600-950 JPY, and the portions are always enough to stuff you up. Bento boxes in supermarkets cost around 300-450 JPY, and they provide full meal portions that are ready cooked every day. In other words, you won’t have to even cook at all at home if you don’t want to.

If you are lucky enough to get assigned a dormitory, your rent won’t be very high neither. Where I lived in Umegaoka, the rent was about 16000 JPY, and including the electricity and gas bill, it adds up to much less than 20000 JPY per month. During winter you need a lot more electricity because the AC is pretty much the only means of warming the room, along with electric heaters. It’s a good idea to buy some blanket to cover yourself while sitting on your desk.

The commuter pass and train tickets are also relatively cheap. While using trains, there is a check-in check-out system, which means that you pay depending on the distance you travel. It is a bit complicated at first, but easy to get used to it. The minimum fare is around 120 JPY. You can use the ticket machines inside and outside the stations to charge your card, just note that they only accept paper money, no credit cards like in Stockholm.

In conclusion…

Tokyo is an all-in-one pack kind of city. It offers huge skyscrapers and flashy streets, along with beautiful temples and shrines. The culture is balanced very well together with urban society. Even though it’s such a big city, there is a lot of green everywhere, with quiet parks around every corner. The climate is warm in summer and cold-but-not-Sweden-cold during winter. School life is very active, with a lot of interesting clubs that you can join on your free time. The lab feels like being part of a company. Food is great, life is not more expensive than Sweden, and people are very polite and pleasant.

The language barrier might be a bit of an issue, but at the same time Japanese is a very interesting and complex language to learn, and I really encourage you to take a language course while there. There is one thing I didn’t mention, and that is the garbage recycling system, which is really interesting. But I will let you find out about it yourself ;)

So, this was definitely the best exchange I’ve ever experienced, and I really want to go back again sometime in the future!

Here are some pictures from my experience:

The dormitory double room I lived in Umegaoka. It has everything a common apartment needs. Every person has their own private space with bed which can be seen in the back on the right side.

A jazz duo jamming in a robot restaurant, the interior of a manga shop, fooling around in an arcade, and relaxing on the hotel balcony during a trip to Okinawa.

The Oda lab where I conducted my research. Each student has their own desk and computer, and there is also a bed, sleeping mattresses, a small kitchen, and a lot of gadgets and tech stuff.

Winter illuminations around Tokyo during December. Definitely an impressive sight.

Visiting the Sensoji shrine during New Year. A custom in Japan, so shrines were quite overcrowded.

Walking around in Tokyo streets, namely Shibuya, Ueno and Akihabara. No matter the time, there are always crowds of people going around everywhere.

The streets of Shibuya during Halloween night, overcrowded with people cosplaying all kinds of costumes. And the party goes on during the whole night…

Sky view of Tokyo from a bar on top of a skyscraper in Shinjuku, sunset from the Skytree observatory, night landscape in a garden near Tokyo Tower, and a view of Mt. Fuji in Fujiyoshida.

Different kinds of Japanese food. From ramen and okonomiyaki, to fried oyster and curry meat. All dishes are accompanied with rice and cabbage, and sometimes miso soup.

And last but not least, a picture during the YSEP graduation ceremony at the end of the exchange!