Student Voice

Why did you choose to study in Japan?

The first thing that comes to mind when asked about this is that Japan is a safe country. I don’t have to be worried if I must go home late at night from lab. Japan also have higher educational standard in which I fully intend to make the most of it. Other than that, I just really like the fascinating culture of Japan.

How did you prepare for studying in Japan? Please tell us about how you found the information on institutions, supervisor, scholarship, and others.

A senior colleague in my department is former student of my supervisor. He introduced me to my current supervisor. We exchanged e-mail about research topic, scholarship and admission requirement. I enrolled myself in a Japanese language course and contacted the student association in the area. The former is to familiarize with the culture and the latter is to ask the more experienced student regarding living in Japan.

How is your student life in Japan? Please tell us about your study, research, part-time job, and others.

It is about being responsible for yourself and time management. My daily life mostly comprised of studying and research. However, I took a moment to hanging out with other student too when the occasion comes, like going to summer festival, hanami, setsubun, school festivals, etc. I took part time job not out of necessity but more to gain experience in teaching and how to interact (in this case my part time job is teaching Indonesia language).

Any message and/or advice to those who wish to study in Japan?

Japan is a country that may or may not different to your own country and you may feel uncomfortable in a new place, out of your comfort zones. But that challenge is exactly an opportunity to grow. So learn to improve, adapt and overcome any issues that arise from that. You travelled this far to Japan and it all will be in vain if you don’t try new things!