Hi there,

I have the opportunity to take part in an exchange program to a Japanese university for a full year next year, and have a choice between the University of Foreign Studies in Nagoya and Toyo University in Tokyo.

Does anyone have experience in either of these universities? I am a bit worried that the ihouse in NUFS will only have foreign students living in it...

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Just on principle size of the city. Tokyo is a better choice than Nagoya. There is more to do; always. In my experience, the university doesn't matter too much when it comes to furthering your study since the vast majority of your improvement (in Japanese, I assume) is going to come from outside of class.

I also knew someone that studied in Nagoya for a year and he said (when comparing Nagoya to Osaka, where I studied and met him), that Osaka was better. Just not a whole lot in Nagoya.

Also, avoid dormitories if you can, regardless of the university.

vix86 Wrote:Just on principle size of the city. Tokyo is a better choice than Nagoya. There is more to do; always. In my experience, the university doesn't matter too much when it comes to furthering your study since the vast majority of your improvement (in Japanese, I assume) is going to come from outside of class.

I also knew someone that studied in Nagoya for a year and he said (when comparing Nagoya to Osaka, where I studied and met him), that Osaka was better. Just not a whole lot in Nagoya.

Also, avoid dormitories if you can, regardless of the university.

The classes appear to be split into different levels though, so I was assuming the class aimed at N1/N2 would be of a fairly high standard. There are 6 levels of classes.
http://www-e.nufs.ac.jp/jli/jljsp/classlevels.htm

Whereas it appears that Toyo only has three levels
http://www.toyo.ac.jp/english/admissions.../NEST.html

Are you really basing your decision where to go strongly on the classes the place has? Generally you go on study abroad to experience a country and get practical experience with the language, not spend it all in class. There's a bit of bias on my part since I learned after 1st semester abroad in Japan that most of my language learning was in my hands and the best progress I could make was outside the class talking to people. So I spent less time on class in the 2nd semester and more time talking to people. (Prior to this I had thought class was the most important thing)

Don't fret too much on which place may or may not have better classes. Focus on whether the place sounds interesting enough to spend a year there. Just what I think.

Thanks for your reply.

While I know that most of what you learn will be putting what you study in class and by yourself to use outside of class, I actually really enjoy studying languages in a classroom setting. I know it's not necessarily the best way for everyone, but it seems to suit me. So yes, the classes would have a huge influence on where I decide to go. If I am going to be spending 3-4 hours in a class every day, I want to try and make the most out of it! I also won't have huge amounts of money to be doing things every day, so I am more worried about how life in the university itself will be as opposed to the city it is in.

No problem.

If you are self financed, your university may be able to give you a JASSO scholarship. Make sure you check into whether theres an application for that or not. People that got it at my school were practically set. They had plenty of money to work with.

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Absolutely go to Tokyo over Nagoya.

What's your major?

Thank you very much everyone for your replies.

Vix86 - I will be eligible for a scholarship of 80,000 yen per month, plus tuition fees waved

Arupan - Do you know someone who when to Toyo, or are you basing this on the location rather than the university itself?

Kitaakitsune - My major is English Literature with a minor in Japanese Language, but I am taking the year to devote to Japanese as I would hope to apply for MEXT once I graduate and do something Japanese-related for my masters.

If anyone has or knows anyone who has been to either of these universities and would be willing to talk to me about them, I'd really appreciate it. I can send you my e-mail.

fishhead Wrote:I also won't have huge amounts of money to be doing things every day, so I am more worried about how life in the university itself will be as opposed to the city it is in.

Out of curiosity, and hopefully for use in the future, what's the minimum amount of money one needs in order to enjoy and experience Japan in a big city like Tokyo and in a small town, with and without company?

Thanks in advance!

undead_saif Wrote:Out of curiosity, and hopefully for use in the future, what's the minimum amount of money one needs in order to enjoy and experience Japan in a big city like Tokyo and in a small town, with and without company?

Thanks in advance!

Uh, on vacation? Or on study abroad? The two are quite different.
Vacation, 5,000USD would be fine for a week or two and would let you eat out most nights. You can do it cheaper though.

Study Abroad varies wildly. From whether you are in a dorm or in an apartment, how many extra bills you have (ISP? Phone? Cable?), how is tuition handled, etc. And thats all before you get to spending money. I was in Osaka for a year in a dorm (~4-5man a month) and had a phone for 6-7,000yen a month plus 5000yen cable net. Even after everything was said and done. I had spent 20,000USD at least, between living costs, plus buying stuff and going around and seeing Japan. Some people could do it cheaper. Depends how frugal you are.

vix86 Wrote:Uh, on vacation? Or on study abroad? The two are quite different.
Vacation, 5,000USD would be fine for a week or two and would let you eat out most nights. You can do it cheaper though.

Study Abroad varies wildly. From whether you are in a dorm or in an apartment, how many extra bills you have (ISP? Phone? Cable?), how is tuition handled, etc. And thats all before you get to spending money. I was in Osaka for a year in a dorm (~4-5man a month) and had a phone for 6-7,000yen a month plus 5000yen cable net. Even after everything was said and done. I had spent 20,000USD at least, between living costs, plus buying stuff and going around and seeing Japan. Some people could do it cheaper. Depends how frugal you are.

Let's say there's no going around Japan, only in the same city, and the places to go are generally cheap. BTW, that's a big difference between 5k/week and 5k/3 months!

Thanks

undead_saif Wrote:Let's say there's no going around Japan, only in the same city, and the places to go are generally cheap. BTW, that's a big difference between 5k/week and 5k/3 months!

Thanks

It really comes down to whether you are a tourist or living there. Hotels will run costs up. You can stay in hostels for cheapish if you don't mind it, or if you are here for awhile, a guest house. If you were poor man sightseeing (hostels etc.) you could easily do it on 100,000Yen　a week probably.

Would there be much of a difference between Universities and private colleges? I was going on the assumption that it might be better to go to a smaller place as people will be more likely to talk to you.

fishhead Wrote:I was going on the assumption that it might be better to go to a smaller place as people will be more likely to talk to you.

This is a bad assumption and a false one. What university you go to won't have any bearing on whether people talk to you. The cold hard truth is regardless of where you go, most people are going to be afraid to approach you and strike up conversations with you. It will be up to you to go out and find new people to talk with.

I see. I have been informed I can go to NUFS and get a 60,000 yen scholarship per month, or Toyo with JASS and get 80,000. Cost of living in Tokyo will be higher, but as I will being going for 11 months I suppose there will be more to do. While I am attracted by the smaller class sizes in Nagoya and the fact that they have more class levels, the fact that it is a 20 minute bus ride from the station which is a 30 minute train ride from Nagoya city leads me to believe there will be more opportunities to socialise in Tokyo. Also, I don't know much about the accent in Nagoya, but it might be harder to understand.

[Zgarbas]

Can you really call a place with 8 million people "a small city?"

I'm also gonna put it out there that living in a dorm with other foreign students is NOT such a terrible thing like some people on this forum make it out to be. Granted you want you Japanese to improve as quickly as possible, but you shouldn't just write off friendships with other foreign students simply because they aren't Japanese. Some of the best friendships I made in Japan were with other exchange students, who I might add are NOT native English speakers. We never used English and still dont when we talk because they are much more comfortable using Japanese, which is fine by me since I too feel embarrassed to speak to them in English since our friendship was built by speaking Japanese.

I took classes with both foreign students and Japanese students and socialised, often at the same time, with them as well. Generally if you are studying at university, your Japanese friends will be studying English, so it's pretty arrogant of one to expect to only speak Japanese the whole time. You have to remember that your friends are going to want to practice speaking English too. When you put yourself in this kind of situation you can't paint everyone with the same brush and disregard anyone who isn't Japanese. In my experience it just doesn't work like that.

Thanks to everyone for their input.

So, do you think it would be better to go to a university and take Japanese classes that are below my level, but where I think I can make friends, rather than going to a university where I will have a class that suits my level, but not be certain of whether or not I will make friends? Toyo also has the option of doing classes that are mostly taught in Japanese with partial assistance in Japanese, or just taking regular classes in Japanese alongside Japanese students (not sure if my level would be up to this though. All I need to do is pass the classes, but I'm a little worried).

Honestly, I really prefer the look of Toyo, but just feel it would be waisting 3 hours of my day 5 days a week for a year to take classes that aren't really at a good level for me.

Well, for what it's worth, Nagoya had a rather cool hardcore music scene in the late 1990s. I quite enjoyed that.

Irixmark Wrote:Well, for what it's worth, Nagoya had a rather cool hardcore music scene in the late 1990s. I quite enjoyed that.

Thanks for the advice! The university is located about 40 minutes outside Nagoya, but I suppose that's not too much of a trip to make on weekends.

fishhead Wrote:So, do you think it would be better to go to a university and take Japanese classes that are below my level, but where I think I can make friends, rather than going to a university where I will have a class that suits my level, but not be certain of whether or not I will make friends?

If friends in this context means Japanese native speakers then you should always chose the friends over the classes. Not only will you generally be able to spend more time in hours with friends but your friends will provide a lifetime of Japanese hours where as classes have a time and level limit.

Having said all of that I know for a fact you can find plenty of friends in both places.

Like others have already mentioned I would focus more on which city you prefer and don't worry about the classes at all. Enjoy the time you have in Japan itself and don't let some boring Japanese curriculum dictate which part of it you must learn while you are here.

Thanks for your advice. I am being more and more draws to Toyo True, I may not be guarenteed a scholarship there, but it is a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I probably won't have the chance to rent a spacious room in central Tokyo for 40,000 yen a month again.

I attended NUFS during my Sophomore year of university in 2009-2010. The classes at NUFS, from what I hear, have changed since I've been there. However, when I attended I was very satisfied with what I learned. But as others have said, the Japanese friends you make will be more influential than the classes that you take.

That being said, I absolutely loved living in Nagoya. I lived there for two years, one year attending NUFS and another year attended Nagoya University. I wouldn't trade those experiences for the world. While Tokyo may be larger and have more to do, Nagoya is still a fairly large city with pretty good night life to be found in Sakae, if that's what you are looking for. I personally find traveling to Tokyo and staying a few days to be better than living there, but that is just my opinion. I'm not one to enjoy large crowds and cramped trains.

On the topic of I-House at NUFS, it is a dorm which you will share with other foreigners. When I was there, I lived in I-House for my first semester. While I was there we had three Japanese "RA's" I suppose you could call them, who would help the foreign students out with things like buying a cell phone and getting your Alien Registration Card. I personally did not like the rules that I-House had when I was there, though. Plus, they will lock the front doors after I believe 11:00PM, so you will need to have somebody inside let you in, as the 管理人 is not there past then. Due to this, I moved out in my second semester to Proxy, which are apartments that belong to the school and are located just down the street from I-House.

If you have any other questions about NUFS, feel free to ask and I'll try to get back to you on them.