Welcome to the MEXT Archives

Hey there,

I've decided to move most of my blog (With Love from Japan, Eustacia) over to my current one (Eustea Reads). However, I recognise that most people looking for MEXT information probably don't want to go through posts on travel, books, and tea, so I've decided to archive the MEXT posts here for easy reference.

Please note that this archive is not actively maintained and I may not see comments left here. If you have a MEXT-related question, your local embassy is probably more up-to-date on the information than I am.

The End (For Now)

This is extremely belated but after five and a half years, my time in Japan is finally over.

As I was doing the Okinawa recap, I tried to think about what to do with this blog. I'm definitely not deleting it, but I highly doubt I can blog like before. So for now, I guess I'll just have to say goodbye. And I'm not good at goodbyes so this will be a fairly short post.

If I ever have something Japan-related to say (or if/when I go on a trip to Japan because I do intend to see my friends), I will definitely update this blog, but otherwise, there won't be any new posts.

Lastly (and perhaps more practically), I will be creating an additional section for the guidebook and emailing it to everyone who downloaded a copy when I'm done. It's basically going to be a guide for moving back based on my experiences.

For now, here's a to-do checklist that I made and used. I hope it helps if you're thinking of moving back:

Car
- Break insurance (fairly easy, although be careful about the day of last payment)
- Sell car (I sold it back to the guy I bought it from so that was very convenient)

Home
- Inform housing agent and pay the penalty fees.
- Hire a moving company and Pack (If you're going with Yamato Transport, like I did, then you should budget time for them to deliver the materials to you. I'm not sure how long other companies take)
- Break the internet contract (the most complicated since I had to liase with my housing agent as well)
- Stop the water
- Stop the gas
- Stop the electricity
Note: You will either need to have cash on hand or be around for a few days to make the last payment.
- Set up mail forwarding if you have an address to forward mail to.

Job & Other legal stuff
- Inform Immigration that I've left my job
- Inform prefectural government that I'm leaving and close all related accounts (insurance, pension, etc). The specific paperwork is: 『住民票の転出届』, 『国民年金の手続き』,『国民健康保険の脱退手続き』 』, and『個人番号通知カードまたは個人番号カードの返納』

Do these last
- Close your bank accounts
- Cancel your phone contract

And that's it (according to my notes). Goodbye for now and thank you for reading!

New Vlogger for MEXT (Osaka)

Hey everyone!! It feels like forever since I've posted about MEXT. Today, you have Mona to thank, because she's started a new vlog channel about her MEXT experience (and she's studying in Osaka University for her language year) and I just had to tell you guys about it. After all, the more information, the better, right?

Here's her first episode:

And here's her self-introduction:

Hey guys! I'm making a vlog about living and studying in the osaka campus through the mext scholarship :) I realised there wasn't much information and/or photos, so I hope my vlog could help! I'll try to update weekly and it's my first time vlogging so I hope that you would support me :) Would really appreciate it if you could subscribe and like my channel, thank you!

Definitely go watch her videos!

Graduation Post

I got back to Sasebo yesterday (almost typed Fukuoka out of habit) and finally have time to write this post. So as you probably know, I've graduated!!! And I managed to wear a hakama for my ceremony, something that I've been wanting to do.

+Whitney Yee I went to go research about Hakama, like I promised. There's a wikipedia page, but it has the "additional verification" thing needed so I searched in Japanese instead. According to this page: a hakama is something worn over the kimono (for girls). There are two types of hakama like 馬乗袴 (umanoribakama) and 行灯袴 (andonbakama). The hakama for males are different too.

As for its history, it was first worn in the 古墳時代 (kofun era) as a sort of trousers. In the Heian period (平安時代), girls of high status started to wear them. And then it was banned in the Edo period, except for court ladies. And then I think it started trending in the Meiji era. And now it's what most girls wear for their graduation.

Luckily, I had my own kimono, so all I needed to do was to rent the Hakama (which was more like a skirt than pants) and have my hair done. Final version:

Graduation Ceremony:

I just realised that I only asked one friend if I could upload the photos I took to this blog, so I guess it'll be scant on photos of people wearing Hakama >< Sorry everyone!

The ceremony was held at this hall and only students were allowed in. Family and guests had to go to lecture hall to watch from the TV screen.

Luckily my bear made it in! It's a present from my cousin :D 

And this is the inside of the hall:

The ceremony was split into two sessions. The morning one was for everyone and the reason why I didn't get enough sleep (because it's held at Ito campus, thus adding to the travel time). The ceremony started with a performance by the philharmonic orchestra. Next, we "received" our degrees, with one person (the one with the highest GPA) from each faculty representing all the students in said faculty. After that, the principal made a speech that was basically "here is what happened in the past and here is what we're aiming for" and then one student rep made a speech on our four years of uni life. After that it was time for the various awards for extra-curricular activities and special programs and the entire thing was done in an hour!

Also, my friend looked really pretty and we all gathered to take photos of her (and then with her) and she said I could post the photo here!

The afternoon "ceremony" was really just us getting our certs and the school making sure we returned our student IDs and filled out the "what are you doing after graduation" forms. Oh, and we were heavily encouraged to join the Old Boys/Girls' Association, and I have no idea if I did or did not.

I actually thought it was pretty nice of the school to give me an English copy of my graduation cert, since everyone else only got the Japanese version.

And this marks the end of my university journey. I can't believe that it's been five years in total - it feels like I just started this blog last year or something (and then I get asked something about my application to MEXT, realise I've forgotten and then I feel the five years). I have been extremely lucky to meet tons of amazing people who have been incredibly supportive and friendly. If it weren't for them, I probably would not have done as well in school and I probably would have had a pretty miserable time as well. And though it was pretty tiring to take two zemis at one go, I am glad to have taken them and worked with my classmates and I would absolutely do the same thing again in a heartbeat.

To end things on a practical note: I rushed to the immigration office right after the ceremony (arrive 20 minutes before it closed) because I needed proof of graduation to change my visa status and my company wanted me to change it as soon as possible. Luckily, I managed to get it done and I'm getting ready to start working in Japan!

I've Graduated! 卒業しました！(Next steps?)

Hey everyone! Just a quick post to say that after five years, my journey as a MEXT scholar has come to an end. Yesterday, I graduated from Kyudai, ending my university studies.

昨日、私は九州大学から卒業できました。あっという間に５年間が終わりました。たくさんの方々からお世話になりましたので、お礼を申し上げたいと思います。ありがとうございました。

I have wondered about what I should do after I graduate (I do have some travel posts which I plan to finish but who knows whether I'll do anything other than work once it's April), since this is blog was started mainly to chronicle my MEXT journey. So if you have any ideas/suggestions, please let me know. And let me know if you're interested in a more detailed graduation post - I'm currently travelling with my family and don't have much internet time or I would have spammed you all with photos right now.

Frequently Asked Questions IV

Another year, another set of questions! I didn't actually think there would be new questions to cover, but here there were! More to learn all the time(:

random plum blossom picture to prettify this post XD

Without further ado:

On the Scholarship

1. If I'm doing NS, can I apply a year in advance and defer the scholarship? (Applicable to Singaporean guys) 

Sorry, guys! I asked, and you can't defer the scholarship. You'll have the apply the year before you are able to leave for Japan. i.e. if you can leave in April 2018, you should apply in 2017. When in doubt, consult the embassy!

2. Do I need to choose which university to go to in advance? 

For the undergraduate scholarship, the answer is no. There is a form, but I didn't know anyone who filled it in. You'll choose your university when you're at TUFS or Osaka University, so there's absolutely no need to worry about that. It might be different for the post-graduate scholarship, but I know nothing about that.

3. What does the embassy mean when they ask for 'original copies'? 

I'm not too sure about that, but I handed in certified true copies and everything was absolutely fine. It's probably a good idea not to hand in the original certificates.

On Kyudai

4. Is Kyudai stressful? (Is it more stressful than Singapore?) 

To be honest, I find it very difficult to compare the two systems, because stress is what you make of it. I know people who claim Japan is much more relaxed, but then you have my sub-zemi, which regularly requires us to stay in school overnight/till it's almost time for the last train, and do tons of projects. It really depends on your choices,  I think.

On TUFS (ok, the order is strange but....)

5. Should I buy a bicycle when at TUFS? 

That really depends on your goals. I'm the type that actually likes walking - my bicycle here is used only to get to the driving range, which is too far to walk to. For me, the grocery stores near TUFS were within walking distance, and if I went further, I took the bus. I do know a lot of people that got bicycles from their seniors/bought one and used it regularly, though. If you're planning to stay within Tokyo, then I think it can't hurt to have a bicycle. Plus, moving it won't be that difficult (probably).

6. What Church did you go to? 

I went to Calvary Chapel Fukuoka, which was a non-denominational Church that has services in both English and Japanese. There is a Japanese-speaking Church nearby as well (my cousin went to that one). I know there's a Catholic Church somewhere, but I'm not too sure where. I think you have to take a train though.

Ok, that's all the questions that I think are applicable to a fairly large number of prospective applicants :D I hope they'll be able to help at least a few people! For more information, check out:
FAQ (the original!)
FAQ (the second)
FAQ (the third)
The anti-FAQ
or the MEXT scholars page. 

Thanks to Jordan, Yuki and everyone else who sent me emails about this! (I'm not sure if you want me to use your name, but if you do, let me know :D )

Oh, and I'll probably update the anti-FAQ with this (if it isn't already written there), but please do not send me questions asking about level of Japanese needed for the scholarship or any details about the scholarship (e.g. how many marks do I need, or can I switch between course ABC and course XYZ), or anything about how MEXT selects their scholars. I do not work for MEXT, and I will not be able to answer your questions. From now on, I will be ignoring all emails that consist solely of these questions. Even if I do reply, it'll just be a link to these posts.

Of course, feel free to ask questions that aren't covered here, or if you want to know if you have a senpai with the MEXT scholarship. If I can help, I definitely will(:

P.s. Totally not related to the FAQs, but lately, I haven't been able to see certain Google+ comments. I am trying to figure out how to get two comment systems installed (anyone able to help?), but in the meantime, if you leave a comment, could you check and make sure it's set to "public" and not just "your circles"? 

Speaking at TUFS

On Monday, I went back to TUFS to talk about Kyudai to my current kouhai's. I honestly meant to talk about this sooner, but I fell sick the day I went back, and only stopped throwing up yesterday. As far as (what seems to be) a stomach flu goes, this case was pretty mild.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand. I was invited back by one of the teachers to talk to the humanities scholars currently studying Japanese. Since Nicholas was free, I dragged him along (bribed him with curry) because even if people don't want to listen to me, they'll want to listen to him, because of his school.

CURRY! I don't care if Kichijoji has better curry, this is where I had so many good memories. 

Since I've been at Kyudai for two and a half years, I haven't actually been able to meet any of my kouhai's. Except once, and that was my cousin. This time, though, I got to meet all four scholars studying in TUFS! I was talking with them all through lunch, and they were all really nice and attended my talk and asked loads of questions.

So after we finished talking to them, Nicholas and I basically agreed that this batch of scholars seems very likely to succeed wherever they go. They're all very sensible, and they're not planning to choose a university based on its name - that's the worst thing you can do. What you should do (and this is what my talk was basically about, and what Nicholas added when he came to answer questions), is to choose a university that suits you. Either the atmosphere, or there's a professor you really want to study under (please check that he's teaching, though!), or you find that you want to live in that town And don't forget the little things, like food, cost of living, and all that. Basically, reputation and ranking, while one of the considerations, should not be the only factor in the university choosing decision.

Apart from that, I also talked about the university (obviously), included campus, lesson schedules, things to be careful of (your credits. Be careful of your credits!!), zemi, and yes, I passed around my schedule and textbook. I heard of another student who came to speak and had a powerpoint slide (and apparently shared his timetable), so I decided to try and raise the level by bringing props.

Plus, I wanted to study on the train/plane.

Back to my Singaporean kouhai's - they're all lovely people, and I really hope they enjoy the rest of their stay, even if they don't come to Kyudai. I do hope someone from this batch comes though! Then maybe I can be invited back again (;

Singaporeans + Malaysian

 Apart of the excitement from talking to the kouhai's, just going back to TUFS was a sort of homecoming. I only spent a year there, but it was my first year, and I definitely grew a lot (and made a lot of awesome friends). The first photo I took was of the walkway, even though this is not the best season to take photos:

But I've missed the place, and I've missed the people. It's a bit of a shock to go back and realise that so many of the teachers are now gone or no longer teaching the scholars. Cutbacks and all that.

Oh yes, Naveen, you emailed me about the getting rid of humanities thing - I asked the teacher in charge, and he says while the government seems to be planning to reduce the humanities departments, it should not affect the scholarship. But we really don't know, because MEXT doesn't say anything.

Apart from walking around school, I also had my beloved cheese nan. I don't know why I can't find it in Fukuoka D:

CHEESE

My stomach definitely shrank though, I couldn't even finish half. Good thing I was sharing.

The last thing I did before leaving TUFS was to visit the Kendo club. There are so many first, second and third years now. I actually felt a bit strange walking up to the clubroom, because there are 3 people left that I know. But the kouhai's are generally nice, and some of them seemed to recognise me, I think because I visited a few times in my first year. So they went and got my friends (so weird to hear one of them being called 'senpai'), and we had a nice chat. I even managed to meet the kantoku!

I've seriously missed these people so much. They were my first Japanese friends, and they literally saw me 'grow' in terms of Japanese ability. Up till now, they still recall the days where I needed a translator pretty much all the time. And I remember how they would always teach me the nuances I didn't get. This was pretty much the only time I wished I had stayed on. But I can't, because TUFS doesn't have economics, and anyway, I like life in Kyudai.