Sophia University, Tokyo
Spring 2014
Travel report April 1 – July 31 2014
k95057
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1 Preparation for my exchange
1.1 Application process, vaccinations, student visa and JASSO scholarship
When applying for Sophia University, you should brace yourself for preparing various documents from
health certificates to recommendation letters from your professors. About 6 months before the beginning
of the spring semester I received an e-mail with the information about the documents required. The
deadline was in two weeks, which does not leave you too much time. The documents needed to be sent to
Sophia University through our International Student Services office. See the list of the required documents
for academic year 2013-2014 and remember that they might have been some changes:
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Application form
4 photos (4 cm x 3 cm)
3 official transcripts + a certificate proving completion of Bachelor-level studies if Master student
List of current courses to which you are enrolled (International Student Services can provide this)
Recommendation Letter Form: 2 letters from the professors who taught the applicants are required
Academic purpose essay, 500 words
Certificate of Health
Housing Application Form
Certificate of English language skills (International Student Services can provide this)
Application for Certificate of Eligibility (online)
There were some issues worth knowing when collecting the documents. The size of the photos was a little
problematic as apparently 4 x 3 cm is not a standard passport picture size in Finland. I first made the
mistake of accepting photos with official measures for Japanese visa application, but the measures were
not the same as required for this. In the end I got my passport photos printed specifically in the size
required – note that paper prints are not accepted. The recommendation letters from professors I decided
to get from professors in my own major marketing just in case if recommendations from e.g. language
professors would not be perceived as valuable for business studies. Because the deadline is tight, you
should ask professors for the letters immediately as at least the professors I chose seemed busy and
needed to be reminded a couple of times before actually writing the letters, although they happily agreed
to do them.
The certificate of health requires examination like X-ray of your lungs and electrocardiograph. Luckily it was
possible to get everything at the Finnish Student Health Service (YTHS) so I didn’t have to pay for the health
certificate and the required examination. Regarding vaccinations for Japan, I had taken the one against
Japanese encephalitis already one year before when travelling to Taiwan, but naturally you should prepare
a few months ahead if you plan to take vaccinations with reinforcements. Japanese encephalitis is
extremely rare as it is spread by mosquitoes mainly only on the countryside or tropical area on Okinawa
islands. Still there is no secure cure for the possibly lethal disease so you should compare the risks against
the high expenses of the vaccination. Note that there are mosquitoes also in central Tokyo such as Yoyogi
park during summer. Surprisingly soon after leaving Japan in August there were mosquitoes carrying
dengue fever in Yoyogi park for the first time since the end of the World War II, but thanks to pesticides for
which Yoyogi park was closed for two months and the weather turning colder, it should be eliminated.
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The application for Certificate of Eligibility is a document that you need for your student visa application, so
you should remember to fill it in properly. According to Sophia University it takes around 6-8 weeks to get
the certificate of eligibility, which you should take into account if planning to travel in Japan before the
beginning of your studies. However, when applying for a visa at the Japanese Embassy in Finland, it took
me only a couple of hours to receive it. Nevertheless, you should always be prepared to wait up to three
weeks as is notified on the web site of the Embassy. For me the deadline for application documents was the
beginning of November and I received my Certificate of Eligibility in January, after which I felt secure
enough to buy my flights.
Around one month after sending all my application documents, I received an official notification of being
accepted as an exchange student at Sophia University. A couple of weeks after that I got yet another e-mail
telling that I could apply for JASSO scholarship which is offered for foreign students by the Japanese
government. The requirements of JASSO are still somewhat a mystery to me – I was supposed to fill in a
very thorough application with my parents’ profession and income, my expected expenses in Japan
categorized in certain areas like school books, travelling etc. and a type of motivational letter justifying why
I would need a scholarship. There are different levels of JASSO of which I was able to get the highest one
with 80 000 yen per month (around 600 €) for those four months I studied at Sophia University. To receive
the scholarship every month I was supposed to fill in the number of lectures I had missed each months at
the Office of Global Education and Collaboration at Sophia University. Basically I was advised not to miss
more than two lectures per month, but I never wanted to try the limits how many would have been
allowed in reality.
1.2 Housing
I applied for university accommodation, but in the end decided not to accept the offer. When making my
decision I contacted one of the Aalto students who had stayed in the same dorm during his exchange at
Sophia and hearing it might take more than an hour to commute during the morning rush hour (with
several changes), I decided to look for accommodation closer to the university. You should note that in
Japan it is not weird at all to have 1-1.5-hour travel to university or work place. The majority of exchange
students stay in these dorms anyway or live in a host family, which is usually located around an hour away
from university too. When opting out of the university accommodation I knew that I might not get to know
the other exchange students that easily because of being away from the dorm life, but then again I had
already done one exchange in Germany, so I decided it was time for something else this time.
Hence I searched for a shared apartment through Sakura House, which offers apartments for foreign
people. The downside is of course not being able to live with the locals, but then again at least in my dorm
we had a nice community of people from various European countries. The name of my house was Sakura
House Sendagaya 4-chome Annex 1 which was actually a semi-detached house for six people and one of
the newest Sakura dorms. It had a very central location with three metro stations within 5-10 minute-walk
or you could walk to Harajuku or Shinjuku in only 20 minutes. It took only 4 minutes by metro to Sophia
University. My original plan was to ride a bike, but as there were no official bicycle parking at the campus
and you should pay for parking elsewhere or take the risk of officers moving your bike, I took a student
commuter pass.
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The central location of my room had its cost at it was 84,000 yen per month (around 700 euros during the
rate at the time) and the room itself was only 7.6 m2. Still I was happy with my choice, but I would suggest
you to seriously weight different alternatives and think what you actually want to get out of your study
exchange. Some exchange students had found nice cheaper dorms that they shared with some Japanese
and some other international people around 30-40 minute commute away from the university. The
extreme ones stayed in a very affordable dorm where you only had your own bed, sharing your room with
a few Japanese. If you feel more comfortable with remaining in touch with other Finns, you can also choose
to stay in Nekotalo which is a shared apartment for Finns maintained by a Japanese lady who has a keen
interest in Finland with some Finnish skills. Google for more and keep in mind that you should ask well in
advance if you’re planning to stay there for a longer period, as it seems quite popular.
2 Exchange studies
2.1 Arrival in Japan and orientation days
Although Finnair offers direct flights to Japan, I decided to choose the cheapest option from Cathay Pacific
with two transfers to Tokyo in order to travel with my friend. I arrived around two weeks before the
orientation day in the beginning of April, but moved to my room in Tokyo only a couple of days before
orientation as I wanted to do some travelling before. The actual semester started almost in mid-April, so
after the orientation day I still had one full week of no obligatory school things and I could use my time to
explore around Tokyo and enjoy the best cherry blossom time. I also took care of some obligatory things
such as visiting the city hall to make a notification that I had moved to Tokyo. There would have also been
an opportunity to get a Japanese health insurance, but I decided to settle for my travel insurance.
The orientation day for all exchange students started also with paying a small fee for university’s obligatory
health insurance which was only valid in school-related activities. After that there were a number of
presentations which importance varied as for example some of the presentations were about the Liberal
Arts faculty, which is for Bachelor students. What had been somewhat annoying was that we received the
final course lists only on the orientation day. Thus I still had to make some changes to my learning
agreement because some of the courses I wanted to take was not offered in the spring term. Registration
for the courses happened mainly through a local WebOodi system called Loyola, which was also used for
important information regarding classes such as class room changes, cancellations etc. For Japanese course
you were supposed to hand out a paper application as soon as you had found out your level.
The official part of the orientation day ended with a Japanese placement test if you wanted to take a
language course which would not start from zero level. The test consisted of parts like grammar and kanjis,
and you were supposed to do well in all of them in order to be placed for a higher level, i.e. without kanji
knowledge you would end up in the very basic course. It might have been because of this that some
exchange students were unhappy with their placement thinking that they should have been placed much
higher, but then again the pace of the course was fast and I had a feeling that most of the people were
happy with their placement in the end. As a final thing on the orientation day there was still a special event
for foreign students, both new exchange and degree students, with some Japanese snacks, speeches and
performances from university clubs.
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Around a week later I still had another orientation day for my Global Studies faculty. This time the
orientation day was very useful as it concentrated on studies only. The professors for example introduced
their own courses shortly, which was nice as usually the professors have a great effect on how the courses
are in the end. There was also a meeting arranged with exchange students who had already stayed at
Sophia for one semester and the new students could ask anything about studies while getting to know to
each other. We also had a visit to the school library where there is a big, normally half-empty room for
Global Studies students only with a number of computers and desk space.
2.2 Sophia University and campus area
Sophia University (Jouchi Daigaku) is one of the most well-known universities in Japan, although it is not
that famous for business. Usually you hear comments like “atama ga ii” (you’re very smart) when telling
Japanese people where you study. A funny fact is that apparently the university is also known for its many
girls who dress up stylishly – after all the university is more oriented on the soft science side like languages
and philosophical studies than business studies. Still it did not occur to me that the number of women
would be significantly higher than the number of men because especially exchange students seemed to
have about 50/50 rate of both. Sophia University is also known for its internationality, although it does not
mean that for example all local students would be able to speak English fluently.
The station closest to Sophia University is called Yotsuya, which is quite in the middle of Tokyo with an easy
access from both Shinjuku and Akihabara directions. Near Yotsuya station there is an area with some cheap
karaoke bars, izakayas and restaurants where both students and business people go. The Sophia University
campus itself is not that big compared to for example Otaniemi campus area, but it still has a dozen of
buildings and thus plenty of chances to get lost during your first weeks. There are three big cafeterias in the
campus area where you find cheap (200-400 yen, about the same prices as in student cafeterias in Finland)
Japanese food from ramen to rice bowls with chicken, plus some changing menus every week including also
more Western choices. The sports facilities at the campus were not that great despite a swimming hall, for
which you had to pay a little, though. There was also a gym but nothing that would compare to Unisport.
Most of the sports facilities and even class rooms were mainly used by after-school clubs anyway.
2.3 My courses
The Graduate School of Global Studies was established only in 2006 which is possibly the reason why the
faculty is still relatively small. There were only dozens of exchange students and for business courses it was
completely normal to have even less than 10 participants, which is nice for change when comparing to
courses at Aalto. Also, it is relatively rare to do a Master degree in Japan; when telling that you are a
Master student (daigakuinsei) you received even more “oh you must be very smart!” –comments leaving
you a bit at unease when trying to explain that in Finland it is very common.
I was a little surprised realizing that I had only around 10 business courses to choose from of which some
were overlapping with my Japanese course and some too similar with the courses I had already completed
at Aalto. Thus in the end I could only choose among few courses of which all did not really match with my
interests. Thanks to the flexibility of International Student Services I was able to take one Bachelor level
course Management in Japan, because in graduate school there were currently no Japan-specific courses in
business which I was keen to learn more about. As next short descriptions of my courses:
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Management in Japan, Prof. Haghirian – Bachelor, 4 credits / 8 ECTS
The course about how business works in Japanese companies was very interesting and it had been praised
already in the previous travel reports. The professors Parissa Haghirian is an Austrian woman whose first
ever job was in Japan. Having worked in Japanese companies for many years before becoming a professor
she has first-hand experience of the Japanese business culture. You will hear many real-life examples on
the course and learn many (Japanese) terms for how to describe various typical elements in Japanese
societies. The evaluation consisted of a mid-term book exam, a group project, participation during class and
a final exam based on slides. This time the group project was interviewing a Japanese manager about how
his/her company has changed its practices because of the financial crisis. Finding a person (with enough
English skills) to interview would have been difficult if I had not gotten to know a Japanese student at the
beginning of the course. Overall the work load for the course was not that demanding as long as you
listened carefully during the two lectures per week for which attendance was required.
Intermediate Japanese M2, Prof. Matsuki and Prof. Masuda – 4 credits / 8 ECTS
The regular Japanese course is held every day from Monday to Friday, which is why it is very efficient. The
lecture lasts 1.5 hours, but you in addition to that there are vocabulary, kanji and grammar tests almost
every day, which is why you usually have to spend 20-90 minutes for Japanese homework depending on
your initial level. There is also an option for intensive Japanese course with 3-hour lectures every day,
which doubles the work load at home too. On my intermediate Japanese course I had two teachers of
which each taught us for half a week. The teachers Matsuki and Masuda were professional, e.g. providing
us with good examples for grammar, and very friendly.
As already mentioned there were many tests during the whole course and also mid-term exams (oral,
listening, kanji and grammar), so the work load never grew too big towards the end. Because the exams
were divided into different sections, it was flexible in a sense that one exam never had too much weight for
your grade in case you did not have time to study for one exam. The course was also very comprehensive as
it did not concentrate only on grammar but for example listening and talking too.
What disturbed me the most on this course was that many of the other exchange students did not seem
that motivated, which in the end decreased also my motivation for course work. For example, when
supposed to have a group discussion some people around me rather continued talking in English than tried
to improve their oral skills in Japanese. However, this did not really have to do anything with the teachers
who did their job well, although for this level it would have been possible to forbid talking in any other
language than Japanese (unless grammar issues). All in all I was still very happy with the course.
International Economics, Prof. Kumakura – Master, 4 credits / 8 ECTS
In the end this was the only course I took at Graduate School of Global Studies. Despite the course
Introduction to Economics during my Bachelor studies at Aalto, I had no economics background so I was
afraid whether this would be too demanding especially because the lecturer was from Keio University,
which is famous for business. Even though the course was targeted to people from various study
backgrounds, I indeed found some of the lecture material quite complicated. However, the lecturer decided
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that two essays would be enough for grading and thus there were no exams during the course. There were
around 10 people in class of which only one was Japanese and the rest from all over the world.
Unfortunately there was little interaction during the course as the contents consisted mainly of traditional
lecturing, although at the end of the course we had presentations of our second essays. Compared to
courses at Aalto the course load was not demanding at all, but then again the contents of the course might
have been too difficult for people with no economics major. Personally I cannot really recommend the
course because I am not an economics enthusiast nor a fan of the traditional lecturing type of courses.
In addition to these courses I took additionally a business Japanese course which was taught by one of my
Japanese professors, Professor Matsuki, but for which I had to pay a separate fee. Although the level of the
course was quite high considering that I had been studying Japanese merely for several years in Finland
whereas some of the other participants had been working in Japan for many years, the course was very
useful considering my business major especially if I decide to work in Japan later on. The participants on the
course were also much more motivated than on my other Japanese course, which allowed me to develop
my spoken Japanese skills during pair work.
3. Free time in Japan
3.1 Extracurricular activities at Sophia University
Whether your first priority is to get to know other exchange students or the local Japanese ones, I strongly
recommend taking part in the extracurricular activities at Sophia University. In order to find a suitable club
for you, you should keep your eyes open and look for alternatives during your first weeks. During the
official Freshman week all clubs and circles do their best to hire new members having performances, giving
out a number of flyers and simply coming to talk to you on the campus. It is simply impossible to avoid
them if you only happen to visit the university on the right days – however, the freshman week was not
advertised for us exchange student at all and because they were in between our orientation day and the
beginning of courses, I would have missed everything without my own research. Still exchange students are
welcomed in most of the clubs, although sometimes the more Japanese you know the easier it might be to
participate in the activities. What you should note is that a club means usually that the team practices even
up to six days a week, whereas a circle is usually more relaxed and flexible. Nevertheless all extracurricular
activities are taken seriously: they seem to be placed as number one even before your studies, although
this has also to do with the fact that you simply don’t have to do that much for your courses in Japan.
My first encounter with the club activities was already on the orientation day, as I saw an idol dance group
SPH mellmuse and a judo club performing as part of the evening program. Later that night I also went to a
traditional Japanese pub izakaya with some locals of Lingwave circle and exchange students. Lingwave
organizes weekly language exchange events, izakaya pub evenings and parties for exchange students and
the Japanese who are part of Lingwave organizers. Unfortunately I could go to Lingwave language exchange
only once due to my overlapping schedule, but it seemed very good for practicing your oral Japanese skills
as it involved getting to know the locals in Japanese and in English (half and half) and an Alias type of game
for explaining words. The language exchange events were organized in an auditorium of one of the Sophia
dorms, Soshigaya International House, which is around 30-minute commute away from the campus. To me
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the active members of Lingwave seemed to have the most Western type of student culture as for some
other locals it was not common at all to go to a party or izakaya during your free time.
Having done some ballet and occasionally jazz/show dance back in Finland, I ended up joining two dance
circles which was definitely the best decision I made during my whole exchange. One of them was Sophia
Modern Dancers which consisted of mainly Japanese and some international degree students. The other
one SPH mellmuse had more international members and also two other exchange students besides me.
Both circles practiced many times a week, so in the end I was hanging out the most with the people in
these circles. Thus I was able to get to know the locals and understand Japanese culture better, as behavior
that is typical to Japanese societies was clearly visible inside the dance clubs, thus turning Management in
Japan course contents into practice. As I was new, I was placed on the same level with the 18-year-old
freshmen and was able to grasp the feeling of the strong bond that the first-year-students usually develop
between each other. As part of the hierarchy they talk to older members in a respectful manner, but also
receive strong support from the older members because the older students pass on everything what they
have learnt and keep correcting our dance moves so that we can improve all the time. Once you go to
Japan you will learn more about this special sempai-koohai relationship.
3.2 Life outside university
Tokyo is so big with infinite amount of different activities that it is simply impossible to cover everything
here. Many of the famous areas like Shinjuku, Shibuya, Ueno, Akihabara, Tokyo central station, Asakusa and
Odaiba feel as if each of them were a new city center with plenty of new things to look at. You should
definitely not miss traditional izakaya pubs with all-you-can-eat (tabehoodai) and all-you-can-drink
(nomihoodai), karaoke boxes, sushi restaurants, cat cafés or maid cafés (with regular customers always
eager at waving their light sticks when the maid is performing an idol dance), various game halls with drum
games or pachinko money games and purikura photo machines. There are also a bunch of nice parks and
famous shrines in Tokyo when you need some tranquility for change, plus you should not forget visiting
public baths or onsen (hot springs).
As everybody knows, Japan and especially Tokyo are relatively expensive places to live. Food costs usually
more than in Finland, although it depends a lot on the product too as sometimes for example meat seemed
less expensive. Still fruits are always expensive because they are mostly imported to Japan from elsewhere.
In any case you should pay attention to where you buy your food. If you buy it from konbini, small
convenience stores such as Lawson or Seven Eleven, the cost might be at least 1.5 times higher than in a
bigger supermarket. Supermarkets are sometimes difficult to find unless you know where to look for, so
keep your eyes open for cheaper bargains. The good side of konbini is that they are open 24/7 and you can
also buy alcoholic drinks at any time of night. You also find a nice selection of bento boxes, ready-made
(microwave oven) meals, of which the most common ones cost 400-700 yen and thus might free you from
cooking unless you have special interest to do so.
Public transportation in Tokyo is quite expensive, although you are able to buy a student commuter pass
from Sophia University which is always valid on the marked route between your home and Sophia
University. Just remember to choose good big stations such as Shibuya or Shinjuku for your route if possible
because then you can benefit more of your commuter pass. The metro network is sometimes very
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confusing especially as there are many companies operating, which means that if you need you change
company, you will be charged a lot higher price than when changing trains only within the same company.
3.3 Travelling
I travelled quite a lot during my stay starting from Okinawa islands in late March. The cheapest options for
travelling long-distance within Japan are low-cost airline companies such as Peach, Vanilla Air and Jetstar,
although some of them have more flights from Osaka than from Tokyo. There are also some cheap flights
to Taiwan and South Korea in case you want to go outside Japan, although then you should remember to
mention at the airport that you will be returning so that you would not lose your student visa. Sometimes
taking the cheapest flights requires spending overnight at Narita airport, when you should remember to
arrive there early enough to reserve a spot with a socket. When there is no public transportation, my
advice is that a taxi ride is never an option in Tokyo unless you can’t come up with anything else toyou’re
your money for (just a warning – once I took a taxi for 20-min trip which cost me 10,000 yen, around 70 €).
Another cheap travelling method was Willer Express bus which has a wide selection of night rides (the
earlier you book the more offers they have). The easiest and possibly the most comfortable way to travel is
of course the bullet train shinkansen. The tickets are however usually double the price as for the bus, which
is why I tried to find alternative transportation methods when not having time limits, but experiencing
shinkansen ride is of course nice. Without student visa you could also get a Japan Rail Pass with unlimited
travel on shinkansen for several weeks, but unfortunately that was not possible when having the visa. Still
there is a machine at Sophia University you can get a little discount for shinkansen tickets.
From Tokyo there are already many opportunities to make day trips to places like shrine area Kamakura, an
island Enojima with a nice beach, Yokohama city by sea or Hakone with onsen (hot spring) area, nature and
Mt. Fuji of course. Being so busy with my dance practice even during weekends I did not have time to cover
all attractions close to Tokyo (just an excuse to come back later). With obligatory attendance at Sophia
University it is not that easy to travel during the semester. In May there is the biggest holiday week in Japan
which is called the Golden Week. I had a friend visiting me at that time and we decided to go to Sapporo as
I had four days of holidays (there should have been more, but apparently some universities like Sophia have
regular lectures anyhow), and we were able to spot second sakura blossom. Basically all the most famous
places are crowded at least during Golden Week and the holiday season of July-August. As can be guessed,
Japan in general does not really suit for people who don’t like crowded places, although there is always
some nice nature with almost nobody around.
Besides some long weekends during the semester, I travelled also for two weeks after I was done with my
exams at Sophia. Some of the destinations that I would recommend are: Nara with shrines and deers that
are walking around and ready to eat your map whenever you seem too touristic. Miyajima island with the
famous red torii port in the sea (and especially Backpackers Miyajima hostel on the shore next to Miyajima
island). Kyoto – no need to explain, the temples and shrines are absolutely beautiful. Yufuin, a small rural
town worth stopping for its onsen. Kobe for kobe beef which is delicious especially because you don’t eat
proper beef steaks in Japan too often. I would also recommend Okinawa islands – the main land Okinawa is
interesting because of its Second World War history, whereas Ishigaki island is more of a paradise island
with good connections to e.g. jungle island Iriomote and small cow island Kuroshima. Feel free to ask me
for more recommendations and advice!
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4 Final comments
Japan is exactly as fascinating as is told in various books, media and by people who have been there. The
mixture of modern and traditional culture is visible nearly everywhere; in only 10 minutes from my home in
central Tokyo I could walk to the serene Meiji Shrine in the middle of old forest. Another 10 minutes and I
was in the hustle and bustle of Harajuku in a mixture of tourists, local teens in the weirdest costumes and a
number of working age people heading for fancy restaurants on Omotesando shopping street. The more
you travel, the more you encounter unique things you would not run into elsewhere it the world. Therefore
Japan is definitely an interesting destination for your study exchange as long as you are ready to face the
peculiarities of its culture in good and bad – my experiences were mainly only good, though.
For me the reasons for choosing Japan were mainly improving my Japanese language skills, increasing my
cultural knowledge about Japan as a society and learn more about conducting business in Japan. Even
though I had been studying Japanese as a hobby since my high school times, I still wanted to improve my
language skills in order to get more out of my stay in Japan, which is why I went to Japan only during my
Master studies. I feel that I succeeded in my goals, as I was able to get to know a bunch of locals and also
improve my language skills on the language course. I do not regret any decision I made regarding the choice
of university, my housing, courses – anything except for maybe I could have used my time in the beginning
a bit better by travelling to the destinations close by.
Sophia University is a friendly place with nice people, of which some have a more international background
making it easier to communicate with them simply because not everybody speaks English. Although it is not
necessary to know Japanese, I would definitely recommend studying at least the basics of Japanese. After
all the Japanese always seem to be thrilled about your Japanese skills no matter if you spoke only a few
words and your silly Japanese might work as an ice breaker for a conversation in English, as the locals are
sometimes very shy to use it.
If you are looking for intriguing business courses, Sophia University or even Japanese universities in general
might not be the best places to apply for. The Japanese study hard to get into a good university, but after
that they don’t have to do that much effort at least during their first years of Bachelor. Then again the
extracurricular activities definitely make up for it at least in my case and they are a good way to get to
know the locals better. Also, thanks to Management in Japan course and my business Japanese course I feel
that I have a much better understanding of Japanese business life, which would benefit me in the future in
case I would like to make an internship there. Thus I think my exchange was useful also career-wise.
All in all I had some unforgettable experiences during travelling and especially with my dance circles at
Sophia University. For example, with Sophia Modern Dancers I performed on the stage of Ageha, which is
the biggest club in Tokyo, in an event where university circles from all over Tokyo performed to each other.
With SPH mellmuse I took part in a university idol group competition UNIDOL which we were lucky enough
to win this time. The feeling after practicing so hard for many weeks and then being able to achieve it
together was just unbelievable. I am sure that I have friends to visit the next time I will go to Japan.
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