Today, I will write about my daily life as
a university student in Japan. For example, how to spend my leisure time,
college life etc. I also compare the differences in college life between Canada
and Japan based on my experiences in Canada. I hope you get some ideas about
Japanese culture and find some interesting things about Japanese culture through my
article. Have a good look my article!
1. About my city!
I live in Morioka,
which is North of Japan. My city is kind of country side, so I can feel
relaxing and appreciation for time. I enjoy various
outdoor activities in different season. On winter season, I usually go to
skiing with my friends. I just went to Appi which is famous place for skiing in
my city. If someone want to enjoy winter sports, I definitely recommend to go
there. On spring, people enjoy Hanami which is picnic under cherry blossom
trees. We called the customer Hanami. There are also local foods, music and a
lot of events.
2. My college life!
I will mention
that differences in a college between Japan and Canada:Term, place to stay, a
part time job and spending time on weekends.
It is student’s choice whether going to
college in a same city which they grow up or going to another cities. I think
it’s different the term of courses in Japan compare to Canada. For example, in
Japan, university students must graduate their university for 4 years. On the
other hand, in Canada, If students try hard to take a lot of courses, they can
graduate for 3 years. Another example, It is not common that
students live in a dormitory. It’s common that most students live in an
apartment instead of living in a dormitory.
It’s also common that college students have
a part time job. I worked as a tutor in a private school. Just remember that in
Japan, we don’t pay tips because we don’t have that culture. So even people
work in a restaurant they don’t get tips because it’s already including in
salary.
In generally, students join some of club
activities for making new friends or trying new things. On weekends, some
students spend time for their club activities such as sports or music etc… or
they work as a part time job to earn money. In my case, I don’t have a part
time job and I’m not a member of some clubs, so I spend time for fun. For
example, going shopping, chatting with my friends at a café, kayaking and
driving.
3. My hobby!
I like work out
and outdoor activities such as kayaking. As I mention about work out, in Japan,
going to gym is not as popular as in Canada. I guess it’s just because the
image of fancy for women is different. For example, Canadian people consider
that healthy and strong women is sexy; however, in Japan, people consider that
very thin women is sexy. Of course, it’s depends on people’s opinion.
Question: Is it difficult to live in Japan, and make
friends?
For me it’s not
difficult to live in Japan because it is very safety and peaceful country and
people are very kind. However, I am going to tell another points about the
image of Japan: Japanese people, making friends as a college students.
First, I think Japanese people are
characterized politeness and shyness. If people from different countries come
to Japan, they might think that Japanese people are so shy and serious. Also, it’s
hard to judge Japanese people’s mind because we don’t really show our emotions
(I mean Japanese people don’t use a lot of body languages compare to other
countries such as Canada and Brazil, and I think Japan is high context culture).
As I am Japanese,
I can say that Japanese people are just shy, and it doesn’t mean that they are
not friendly or cold people. They are very kind after getting know each other.
So for now, the
question is how can foreigner students
make Japanese friends in Japan?
First, Join a
club!
In a college,
there are some communities or some club activities to make friends between international
students and Japanese students.
Second, go to
Izakaya!!
Izakaya means a
pub in Japan. I am pretty sure that Japanese people love drinking. I can tell
that going Izakaya with your friends is faster way to get close with your friends
and also making new friends.(not only in Japanese thought)
Okay, the Next
question...
What is difficult to learn Japanese?
I have no idea
about this answer because I’m native speaker, so I asked my international
friend from Russia. She said that it’s hard to remember Japanese words because
they have three characters which are Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji. In addition,
Japanese has Keigo and Sonkeigo which are used in a polite way for respecting
old people.
I think learning other
languages is not easy, but at the same time, it is so much fun to learn other
cultures through learning languages and
communicate people from different countries by using your skills which
you learned.
Conclusion!
I recommend to visit Japan if you are
interested. You can find it very interesting.
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