Details

• Japan
• BBE-18
• Undergraduate
• WS 2025
• Time spent at the partner university: 5 months

1. Preparation

- The application is more or less easy and straightforward both from WU's and Waseda's side. Just follow the instructions carefully, and expect lots of bureaucracy. - Please do everything as soon as possible, don't procrastinate. Apply for accommodation in time, book flight in advance to make it cheaper, look at course lists etc. - Watch videos and read about travelling to/in Japan. It will truly help a lot in advance, and you don't have to figure out everything immediately after landing, totally jetlagged (e-Sim, public transport etc.).

2. Accommodation

Waseda offers many chances to live in dorms, but you can also organize accommodation privately if you don't wish to live in a dorm. However, expect more difficulties in this case (higher prices, entry fees, many rejections), as the market for housing is not too foreigner-friendly in Japan. Accommodation search in Tokyo varies from person to person. For most of my friends it was easy, in my case it was a nightmare. We all applied to Waseda dorms and dorms that have a contract with Waseda. My friends got accepted immediately, meanwhile I got rejected not once, but twice. I ended up with a last resort dorm where they had empty spaces in Kodaira, very far from central Tokyo. Very small room, shared bathrooms and everything one wants avoid (although it was thankfully very cheap)... I ended up falling in love with the area by the end of my exchange, but the distance from uni and the centre (18-20 kilometres, Tokyo is HUGE) certainly made life more difficult. Generally, anywhere is safe in Tokyo and public transfer is fast and awesome, you don't have to worry about that. The only tip I have is to start looking and applying early on, though this did not help much in my case. Best tip is to get lucky :). You really need to watch out what dorms you apply for, as distances can get crazy in Tokyo (it is one of the largest cities on Earth for a reason). Use Google Maps for reference, travel times are very accurate.

3. Academic life at host university

Waseda campus is very nice with a more oldschool-style, with many konbinis and cafes. Spending time there is truly fun and a good experience. Japanese academic culture on the other hand was very weird to me. In my experience, they do not take university as seriously as we do in Europe, especially in areas outside of medicine and engineering. Teaching style is very similar to WU, professors are nice in general, however, there is much less transparency in courses. Many times no idea about expectations, grading, deadlines etc. In most courses we just worked through the whole semester without knowing any of our points, and they just dropped the final grades on us at the end of the semester. I did not like this, as I had no idea what to expect or how I was doing in the course. Local students also do not seem to be working too hard, it was often difficult to organize groupworks, as they did not seem to care about grades or courses. The Japanese friends I made confirmed this, as grades do not matter as much in Japan as they do in Europe, many just want to pass the courses, and treat university as just a mission to acquire a paper. Generally though, courses seemed much easier than at WU. I could secure 1-s in many courses without working too hard throughout the semester. I would recommend doing some online courses if possibble, as they are usually not demanding, and you can travel and enjoy Japan much easier without being present in person.

5. Every day life in the host country

This is where your exchange will shine. Japan is the best for everyday life, it is convenient, cheap (for Europeans, not locals), fun and easy (as a student). Public transport in Tokyo is insane (though a bit pricey), everywhere is safe, eating out and drinking is cheap and food is awesome. Japanese people are generally nice, polite and helpful. You have chance to do almost any activity in Tokyo, it is basically a whole country within Japan. I don't think there is much to explain, you need to experience it yourself, it is truly outstanding. I think the hype of Japan on the internet nowadays is a bit of an exaggeration, but not too far from reality.

6. Testimonial

I know this will sound cliche, but these were some of the best months in my life so far. The people I met, the places I saw (whether it be in Japan or other Asian countries when I travelled, nature, countryside, cities etc) and the things I tried all made my exchange special. Japan is one of, if not the best country to do an exchange in. I am overall very thankful that I had this opportunity, and will certainly return, hopefully very soon. Even as just a tourist :)