Tokyoite Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

The Japanese language courses were very ineffective. They are extremely different from the intensive courses at Middlebury. Thus, the courses seem like a waste of time. They are very rigid, yet teach nowhere near as much in a week as Middlebury does in one day. Every day of the week runs the same course week by week, making it very monotonous. The language classes tend to be about 3 hours a day but the lectures are too long.

On-site administration of your program

Our on-site administrator is a very nice woman but she is highly disorganized. It made it easy for students to miss assignments, classes, and even field trips. There was no syllabus prepared at the beginning at the course, most times delivered only halfway through or at the end of the semester.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

I lived in a dorm with a wonderful mix of Japanese and One-Year Regular students. I didn't like the cafeteria food at all but luckily, we had kitchens available to use. I was able to invest in ingredients and cook whatever I pleased.

I give them 3 stars because they were pretty affordable ($3.50 for an average meal, not including drinks or fruits/vegetables) but they were not exactly delicious. They consisted mostly of rice bowls with a bit of meat, chicken, or fish thrown on top. There was little variety day by day or week by week. For vegans and vegetarians, the selection was even worse.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

I am not sure if this is an ICU thing but it can be pretty hard to make larger groups of friends with Japanese students. I found outside socialization much more efficient for me. Japanese students at ICU can be very closed off and stick to their own groups for the most part. Besides language barrier, the general culture in Japan consists of a slow process of opening up. As foreigners we are usually seen as a curiosity and as an opportunity to help them develop English skills or to teach them about our respective countries. Therefore, you must be more persistent in using Japanese and in getting to form genuine friendships. The first part is establishing what you are looking for in your friendships and the rest should be much easier.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

We had basic introductions on what to do in the case of a health problem. However, there was not enough information on mental health, as well as things like health insurance, health insurance payments, and etc. Also, the Japanese health system is very different from the American system so when you need to go to get something checked out, you are referred to a variety of specialists for each issue, since there is no doctor available to do a whole check-up or consultation. You normally end up paying at least $20 per consultation, despite health insurance.

Japan is very safe in general. Mitaka, Tokyo was super safe. Students should make sure to register their bikes and have safety lights to make sure that they don't get stopped by police officers.

Middlebury was very restricting.

(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost)

Thankfully I was able to live comfortably on campus while still exploring the outside life in Tokyo through food and excursions on a low-income student budget.

0 = No encouragement, 5 = frequent encouragement to use the language

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• Dorm

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• Local Students
• Americans
• International Students

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• Local Students
• Americans
• International Students

• It connected us with community organizations to work with throughout the year.

• Better explanation of how classes work at ICU.